UOSA has been defined by one thing this year: The lack of student participation, and how to increase our involvement. Priding myself on my wanting to be an informed contributor, I headed over to the UOSA presidential and vice presidential debate promptly at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
On the way, I passed sign after sign telling me to vote for so-and-so. What an eyesore, I thought. Those signs alone made me want this election to be over as soon as possible.
Three hundred chairs were placed for about 200 students who, as a collective, resembled more a Simon-Says game than open-minded voters seeking information on whom to choose in next week’s election. More than 75 percent of the body was sporting colors and had corralled into specific sections. Presidential and vice presidential hopefuls used these groups for photo ops, much to delight of their friends who had anticipated this debate with fervor.
“What’s the point of a debate,” I asked a friend, “if everyone here already knows who they are voting for?” “It’s for show,” he told me. I later learned The Daily ran an article in the next day’s paper with several of the candidate’s answers in an effort to inform those who didn’t attend.
Every candidate is passionate about getting us involved, but it seems all they succeeded in so far was bringing their friends out to the debate, an accepted technicality of OU’s election process.
Even though the event had been advertised as starting at 7:00 p.m. it really began at 7:30 p.m.. I never found out why, but something tells me they were so worried about attendance they wanted to get every last straggler in. I, on the other hand, had to leave at 7:40 p.m. for another meeting. My 40 minutes of debate, which seemed like enough time to get a decent understanding of the candidates, had been cut to 10 (and really five after introductions) because we are presumed to not be punctual.
I had enough time to hear one question before bolting. I felt bad that I wouldn’t see the rest of the event, but it’s OK. I already knew who I was voting for anyway.
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theotherone 2 years, 2 months ago
so the gist of your article is that you feel it's a show, even though you didn't get to see it? why is this worthy of the opinion column when you heard nothing about which to form an opinion?
JJanowiak 2 years, 2 months ago
What can we expect when any differences between candidates are cosmetic (because they aren't any truly important causes to necessitate different political beliefs in candidates) and the only barrier to election is the willingness of candidates to pay for election signs posted every ten feet across the entire campus. I'd be rather happy if SDS ripped them all up out of the ground and burned them.