It’s that time of year again. As of this week, you’ll start seeing and hearing election campaigns for the Northern Iowan Student Government (NISG) President and Vice President elections. Campaigning officially started on February first, with elections taking place February 22-23.
I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m a bit of a politics junkie, but I can understand why others may find it less fascinating. However, it is vitally important that we, as students, take part in these elections. You know how they say voting for our country’s president is one of your civic duties? Well, voting for your Student Body President is just as important. Here’s the deal, plain and simple: whoever is elected is going to directly affect you and your life on campus in the next upcoming school year. Be it student organizations, campus life, or student-faculty relations, the UNI Student President and Vice President have their fingers in it. So right now you may be thinking “whoa, that’s a lot of pressure for two students.” I know right? Guess you better vote to make sure you pick two that can handle it.
Both the President and Vice President have a lot of discretion and leeway with how they handle their office, which makes voting even more important! Luckily for us, there are lots of easy and quick ways for us to keep involved and informed:
Northern Iowan Blog: Students Trevor Boeckmann and Adam Haselhuhn are running an NISG Election blog, updated weekly! Visit http://www.nisgelections.com/ to read through their weekly updates and check out what they’ve already said about the candidates! You can even comment and share your opinion.
Talk to the Candidates:This is probably the single most important thing you can do. These guys and gals are students, just like you! They have lives and opinions and they’re on a Facebook adding frenzy (check out the Northern Iowan Blog for more details about this)! Whoever wins is going to have the job of focusing on what the students (that’s right, US!) want. So contact them! Let them know your thoughts and concerns about what’s happening on campus. Have a suggestion for how they can make campus better? Tell them about it! The candidates will be making their rounds through student organizations and other places on campus. Take your friends, have a conversation.
Social Network:It’s what our generation is best at. Follow the candidates on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, or any other site that you can find them on! Get to know the real person (at least as much as you can get to know a person through a website). Get a feel for the candidate’s personalities and what they’re promoting.
Whatever you do, don’t just idly sit by and let a few votes dictate what affects everyone’s lives next year. Make an inform decision and cast your vote so we can make the Panther campus the best campus possible.