Editor's Note: The second-to-last paragraph was edited at 2 p.m. to clarify the editorial board's stance.
Tuesday, we will have an election, a chance to put the democratic process to action here at OU.
There are four great UOSA presidential candidates this year, each with a legitimately different dream for how to make OU better. We encourage each of you to vote Tuesday or Wednesday. This is your opportunity to have a say in student government. So instead of complaining about it, why not do something, like vote for legitimate candidates.
UOSA exists to give us a hands-on lesson on democracy and give students a say in what happens around The University. However, many feel UOSA is a token institution to make students feel they have a say around OU. These views aren’t completely without merit; UOSA distributes money mostly to the same purposes every year and only makes suggestions to the OU Board of Regents (on which they don’t even have a seat).
That isn’t to say UOSA has no purpose; it exists as a voice for students.
Unfortunately, events of recent semesters have shown UOSA to be a less than democratic institution and have done an unacceptably poor job of representing the student body. It has stopped students from speaking at its meetings, been responsible for two possible violations of the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act; held forums against amendments; and individual members of UOSA have threatened to cut funding to The Daily if we do not cover them in a positive light.
UOSA is not the only institution to be blamed; the student body UOSA is attempting to represent is every bit as much at fault as its representatives. We haven’t been holding our representatives accountable. Students almost never have any business to conduct at UOSA meetings.
If you don’t hold your representatives accountable, can you really expect them to represent you?
This leads to a further question:
If UOSA isn’t representing a majority of the student body, why do we have it?
Well, maybe we shouldn’t. If people won’t vote for representatives, we should vote to see if we really want a student government.
If more of the student body doesn’t vote in the upcoming election, UOSA’s legitimacy will continue to be in question. We should then decide if we really want a student government, and we should vote on it.
We are going to set the bar absurdly low and suggest if less than 20 percent of students vote, there should be a vote on whether the organization should be abolished.
So go vote, because UOSA really is a good idea and is potentially a great institution, but it’s nearly worthless without student involvement.
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TheTroll 2 years, 1 month ago
I completely agree with theotherone. If The Daily can't pick a candidate, then stay out of the opinion bit of it. Or if they can't pick anything better as a solution for UOSA than just get rid of it... Ridiculous.
theotherone 2 years, 1 month ago
I find it funny that the daily refuses to endorse a candidate because they feel that as the lone voice of judgment on the matter, it would be unfair to skew public opinion in such a manner because of the daily's position, but yet the editorial board can get together and publish an article that outright condemns UOSA entirely. do you all not see the ridiculous hypocrisy here?
JJanowiak 2 years, 1 month ago
KBorgerding: Based on the context I think that's a typo and that they meant to say that if less than 20% of students turn out, blah blah blah.
gazelle 2 years, 1 month ago
I see no hypocrisy here. The daily does not want to favor one candidate over another. The influence of the daily on campus, along with the limited amount of student involvement in elections, make their endorsements too influential. That is why they will not endorse a specific candidate.
However, the editors at the Daily are dissatisfied with some of the actions of UOSA and the limited amount of student involvement in UOSA elections.
To express opinions and frustrations is not wrong or consisting of hypocrisy.
If we are afraid to voice opinions, then what part of humanity is left?
What is the purpose of democracy if opinions and beliefs mean nothing?