I’d like to take a moment out of the entry to say that I unintentionally wrote the title as “Stupid Politics,” so I guess Freud was on to something. Anyway.
There was a post on MetaFilter by KokuRyu about “the ugly side of student politics.” The post sums up how “more than three-quarters of a million dollars in student funds was misspent, a forensic audit of Vancouver’s Kwantlen University College student association finances has found. “It’s been a pretty long process because the financial records from 2006 were ‘lost.’ ” The audit also revealed that $140,000 was paid to former executive members, including former student association chair Aaron Takhar.”
How could I not be interested with scandal like that? So I started reading the article, and it had tidbits like
And that is why she fought in court for two years to get her job on student council reinstated and is now planning to sue over the forensic audit she and her fellow council members ordered when finally back in office.
and
Anderson alleges that he hired a private investigator to spy on rivals, and meddled with ballot boxes during elections.
My college had it’s student senate elections recently. Though only 352 students (that’s about 3% of the total undergraduate population) showed up to vote, one member of the election committee said “That looks good for the fall.”
Of those 352 votes, I saw that Mickey Mouse, Santa Claus, Rudolph, Pigasus, Car Ramrod, Rhody the Ram (the school mascot), Big Bobby C, JWL, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Max the Senate Fish, Buddy Cianci, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Darth Vader, Al Capone, Colonel Sanders, Charlie the Unicorn, Ted Nugent, Bill Clinton, Chuck Norris, The Govenator [sic], Jesus, and Jebus all got one vote a piece (22 votes total).
The most I had heard about the elections before they were over was from a friend who told me to vote for another friend. My response was “vote for her in what?” I had no idea student senate elections were even taking place.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I’m having a hard time comprehending anyone taking student council positions so seriously as to go to court (for two years!) to get a position back, or hiring a private investigator to spy on potential opponents.
In any case, I think that both cases–the situation at Kwantlen University and my college’s recent elections–serve as exemplary models of Democracy In Action.
What a Mess 