Friday, February 7, 2014

Photos: Taylor Lasota Design: Naira Ahmed GAZETTE

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thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

What makes a great debater

Bill Wang GAZETTE

Kevin Hurren OPINIONS EDITOR When candidates take to the Mustang Lounge stage for a University Students’ Council debate, it can be an intimidating experience.

As microphones turn on and Twitter heats up, candidates prepare to face an onslaught of questions and concerns — but what exactly makes a master debater?

“Generally, when people think about debates they assume that you need to be a super confident and aggressive public speaker,”

said Victoria Hale, UWO Debate Society president and fourth-year Huron student. “That’s not actually what we look for in our club, and in debating generally.”

Instead, what Hale prioritizes is an ability to engage with ideas. Good debaters should take the arguments of their opponents and deeply analyze what the issues are.

“Instead of just being able to say it in the most animated way, we look for people who actually have a real response to what the opposition proposed,” Hale explained.

Though good debaters focus

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on the arguments, that’s not to say delivery is inconsequential.

According to Andrew Kinsella, fifth-year Western student and vicepresident of training for the UWO Debate Society, confidence plays a big factor in the effectiveness of making an argument.

“A lot of debate is being able to convince other people that your side is correct, and one of the ways you do that is simply by being a good speaker,” Kinsella said.

When it comes to the USC debates, confidence is often not what candidates lack, having been shaking hands and meeting people for weeks. Still, there are a few traps that new debaters can fall into. First, said Hale, is underestimating an opponent — not listening to what the other side is saying or discounting them because of poor public speaking skills.

Another common mistake for debaters is diverging from the original topic or issue, or what Kinsella calls “tangential arguments.”

“People start out with a question, talk about it and then one thing reminds them of another so they start talking about it as well. It distracts from their actual answer and the question itself.”

These tangential thoughts not only take away from the effectiveness of the argument, but also waste time. In debates, speakers are given very short time slots to both answer questions and rebut opinions. With only seconds to persuade an audience, wasting crucial time can have a profound impact on the result of the debate. Because of this, Hale recommends debaters create an outline for speaking.

“Always have a written introduction and conclusion — a witty line you plan to start or end with.

As soon as you know you’ve got 10 seconds left, you wrap up whatever sentiment you’re currently working on and move into your written conclusion,” Hale advises.

Kinsella echoes the importance of planning, suggesting debaters stick to a pattern when answering questions.

“The structure we tend to use in debate is statement, analysis, example,” Kinsella said. After detailing an opinion, debaters should elaborate on why their position is correct, and then provide examples to make the concepts concrete for audiences.

“If you stick to nice, simple steps like that you’re much more likely to not go on a tangent or over time.”

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thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

Strategy important for slate selection Aaron Zaltzman ASSOCIATE EDITOR When the slate system for the University Students’ Council elections was first implemented last year, it was only a few months before campaigning started. Candidates all but scrambled to find running mates and put together teams in time for the official nomination.

This year however, the candidates have had an entire year to plan a well-thought-out strategy for picking their running mates.

The running mate selections by each candidate highlighted the emphasis placed on both skill and experience, and revealed a little bit of political strategy.

“I was looking for background in advocacy, experience in the portfolio and a specific passion to do the

WHAT IS THE USC?

job, for both positions,” said Brian Belman, who is running for USC president. He chose Steven Wright — the chair of the provincial and federal affairs standing committee — as his external candidate, and Alex Benac — the PrideWestern coordinator — as his internal candidate.

His opponent, Matt Helfand, said Belman’s choice of running mates didn’t surprise him.

“For his external, I assumed from the outset that he would look for someone who was going to run for [Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance] president — knowing his background I knew he would come out with an OUSA-involved stance,” Helfand said.

Helfand’s own team seems to be a political strategist’s wet dream. It includes Jen Carter, the president of the King’s University College

I know it’s something that people have commented on, but my first priority was choosing the right people for the job, and gender wasn’t a factor in that decision.

— Brian Belman

Presidential candidate on his all-male slate

Students’ Council, as the external candidate, and Emily Addison, the president of the Huron University College Students’ Council, running for the internal spot. With Helfand, the former president of the Social Science Students’ Council, they represent three of the biggest constituencies on campus.

Helfand, however, says the

USC Services include peer phone line, Purple Bikes, a registered dietician, BizInc, and the Peer Support Network, which includes the Peer Support Centre, Ally Western, Envirowestern, Pride Western, Ethnocultural support, Student Appeals Support Centre and the Women’s Issues Network.

HOW DOES

OPERATE?

THE USC

The USC’s leadership is composed entirely of students. The USC executive consists of a president and five vice-presidents. They are all full-time salaried positions meaning they are not students while they are in office. The president and vice-presidents internal and external are elected by the student population in the slate electoral system and the remaining are voted on by council.

The vice-president internal is responsible for the support of Western students and advocates to the Western administration on their behalf and makes sure every individual student gets equal opportunities and acceptance.

slate, but I think that there are so many different demographics at Western, so many different students and opinions that to try and break it down like that is a false premise,” he said.

Similarly, Belman also said the fact that his slate is all male was not a strategic decision.

“I know it’s something that people have commented on, but my first priority was choosing the right people for the job, and gender wasn’t a factor in that decision,” Belman said, “You definitely keep [demographics] in consideration, but my first priority was picking the right person for the job, despite how voters would react to them.”

“It was always in the back of my mind, but my first priority was experience.”

llive i in style.

The University Students’ Council is the student union that represents and lobbies on behalf of all undergraduate students at Western. Every undergraduate student pays $661.33 with their tuition that goes to the USC. Most of that money is for the LTC bus pass, health plan, dental plan, UCC fee and fees for services like The Gazette and CHRW, with only $77.46 per student left for the USC’s operating budget.

USC Operations include The Spoke and Rim Tavern, The Wave restaurant, Western Connections, Western Film, Mustang Central, Creative Services and UCC bookings. Three campus media organizations, The Gazette, CHRW, and Big Purple Couch, are also operated by the USC.

The president is the figurehead of the organization, provides direction and sets priorities for their term.

decision was based on skill sets, not politics.

“I chose Emily knowing that she is a very competent manager with very good leadership skills, so she knows what it’s like to interact with faculty and administration on an advocacy level,” Helfand said. “For Jen, I went into this election knowing that we wanted to have a municipal focus for advocacy, and Jen has the experience with the municipality.”

He said the representation on his slate was less about political expediency, and more about trying to get candidates who could connect with students.

Belman said that while Helfand definitely hit an affiliate voice with his choices, he doubts the decision was made for political reasons.

“I think it could be a strategy that someone could use in choosing a

The vice-president external is the chief advocate on behalf of all students to external institutions that affect university educational policy and students, like the municipal, provincial and federal governments. They also represent Western at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA).

The USC Council is the governing body of the USC. Councillors decide what initiatives will be put forward during the year and it is the main legislative body of the USC. There are 74 voting councillors representing every faculty, affiliate college and residence, in addition to the speaker, the president, vice-presidents internal and external, six senators and one board of governors representative. Voting members are the voice of students on council having been elected by the student body at large.

During the annual University Students’ Council elections, the presidential race naturally generates the most interest, which is why it is also the one that is most closely followed by students and the media alike. But the reality is, when voting opens students are responsible for electing more than just a president and two vice presidents. Along with the executive slates, students must elect faculty presidents councillors, and senators — and with all that power students should be aware of whom (and what) they’re voting for.

A full list of candidates is available at voteusc.ca.

Faculty Presidents Within the USC, each faculty is represented by one president who is elected by students within that faculty. As the chief delegate, the faculty president represents students to the faculty administration and the USC — and much like the USC president, faculty presidents lobby to improve the lives of students within their designated jurisdiction.

Faculty Councillors As voting members of the USC, faculty councillors are responsible for bringing students’ concerns to council and, as such, are the main intermediary between average students and the student government.

VOTING MEMBERS

OF COUNCIL

President (Voting) Vice-president internal (Voting) Vice-president external (Voting) Vice-president finance (Resource member) Vice-president student affairs (Resource member) Vice-president communications (Resource member)

74 USC COUNCILLORS CAN VOTE

Board of Governors – Undergraduate Rep Each year a student-at-large is elected to sit as a voting member on the Board of Governors (BOG). The BOG is the highest governing administrative body of the university and is responsible for administrative and academic matters.

Senators The Senate oversees academic policy at the university. In order for the Senate to include student concerns, student senators are elected to act as their voice during matters such as teaching quality, admissions and examinations.

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thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

Candidates: The good, the bad and the ugly

Taylor Lasota GAZETTE

Taylor Lasota GAZETTE

Team Belman

Team Helfand

GOOD

BAD

UGLY

GOOD

BAD

UGLY

Focus on Mental Health

Work-integrated Learning

Head in the Clouds

Service Reviews

LTC Advocacy

Team Belman’s platform pushes the very limits of what the USC, large as it is, can do. Simply put, there’s only a few policy items here that the Belman slate can immediately and directly implement. Advocacy is an important part of what the USC does, but Team Belman seems to be relying on their advocacy efforts paying off big-time in order to significantly improve the student experience. This doesn’t mean that it can’t be done, but if the team is serious about accomplishing everything they’ve laid out in their platform than they have their work cut out for them.

While Team Helfand’s proposed base fee freeze has received a lot of attention so far this campaign, their proposed comprehensive service reviews have not.

From the student ancilliary fee to campus accessibility to campus Wi-Fi service, Team Helfand looks to be serious on their pledge to get students a “better deal” for their money. In addition, the team makes it clear that they want to educate and receive feedback from students on issues such as the student donation fee and UCC marketing. With a service review popping up seemingly every other point on the Helfand platform, one feels assured that if you pay into it, Team Helfand wants to ensure you’re getting the most possible out of it.

While team Helfand has often been quite critical of team Belman’s “lofty” advocacy goals, some of their own seem equally out of reach.

Municipal advocacy is clearly a focus of the platform, which is fine, but some points seem more like annoyances than serious issues. This is particularly true of their promise to improve LTC service through advocacy. Granted, if you were to ask a student if they would like the sign at Natural Science fixed, or more bus shelters, they would probably say yes — but this simply means students can directly identify the issue in a way they can’t with things like rising tuition. The LTC has admitted that they have problems — advocacy isn’t going to help them fix them.

Decentralized entertainment budget/ programming

Pressures on students are higher than ever, making mental health an issue that needs to be addressed university-wide. Team Belman has exactly this in mind, saying that they will advocate for an administrative position to oversee health services and supports, as well as a centralized mental health centre, which would significantly simplify where troubled students can seek the help they need. While these points would rely on advocacy, Team Belman has some ideas of what could be done immediately by the USC to address mental health, including an online “mental health marketplace” and bringing reform to the Peer Support Centre.

While learning by doing is appropriate in some contexts, this is a point that would require a lot of advocacy effort. On top of that, it’s not clear that with the pandemic of unpaid “internships” that this is something that would improve the learning experience here at Western. Also, applying work-integrated learning to all programs sounds like a stretch. To take one example, I’m a political science and philosophy student, but I’m not sure I would be interested in a for-credit co-op or internship in either of the fields — whatever they would look like — even if team Belman fought hard to get me one.

Brian Belman My name is Brian and I want to be your USC president. I’m in my fourth year studying Psychology and doing my certificate in Professional Communication.

In the USC I’ve been a councillor, provincial affairs commissioner and the associate vice-president external. I’ve also been really involved in my fraternity, and was on the executive in 2012.

When I’m not at Western my favourite thing to do is travel. I’m lucky enough to have travelled to six continents already, and I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to go somewhere again.

I’m terrible at most sports, but I’ve had a bit of success with squash so I try and get on the courts at the Western Student Recreation Centre whenever I can. I love Western, and I would love the chance to give back to the students that make this school amazing.

Team Helfand wants the USC executive to have less power over budgeting and organizing event programming. The spirit of this platform point is clear — ensuring that programming is delivered more effectively and efficiently.

The problem lies in the fact that the execution and implications of it are not explained sufficiently. Decentralization can sometimes be a good thing, but programming is part of what the USC executive is elected, by students and by council, to do. It’s unclear as to whether leaving this duty to USC managers would improve efficiency or lower cost — it’s a platform point with big implications that’s not elaborated on very much, which is worrying.

— Richard Raycraft

Matt Helfand I’m Matt Helfand, and I am excited to introduce myself as a candidate for USC president. I just finished a bachelor’s degree in Political Science here at Western, and I am now pursuing a master’s degree in Political Science.

I’m a member of the London Youth Advisory Council, a local advocacy body dedicated to pursuing solutions to London youth issues. Last year I was president of the Social Science Students’ Council, a member of the USC finance committee, and a Western delegate for the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.

As Social Science president I listened to what students wanted.

When students wanted better concerts, we hosted Mac Miller.

When students wanted improved academic counseling, we worked to make it happen.

When we are elected we will bring that same vision to the USC. We promise to be a student-centric administration that programs, advocates and works for students.

•5

thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

Preparing for presidency of the USC Daniel Weryha SPORTS EDITOR The road to office is long but for a select few, it is rewarding. The two weeks spent campaigning are exhausting but after the ballots are counted, and all is said and done, the celebration is short, and the work must begin.

A University Students’ Council president is elected in the week prior to Reading Week, and is therefore given two and half months — from mid-February, until the official change over at the beginning of May — to prepare for the job.

This period of time is often spent shadowing the outgoing president, re-evaluating personal goals and essentially learning the intricacies of the position. At this time, newly elected executives are balancing, in most cases, the final semester of school in their undergraduate careers.

Since the excitement and anticipation is high, it is easy to neglect the one thing you actually came here to do — study.

“April is a trying time because you’re trying to balance school, but you’re also so keen to start working,” Pat Whelan, USC president, said.

The first step to preparation is learning. The job offers a significant amount of autonomy and it is the incoming executive’s responsibility to learn as much from their predecessors as possible before it is too late.

“In February I started meeting with Adam Fearnall — who was the president before me — and also with some of our senior management team from the administrative

Julian Uzielli GAZETTE

IF YOU WANT TO SIT BEHIND THIS DESK, YOU HAVE TO EARN IT. USC President Pat Whelan sits across the desk from his predecessor, Adam Fearnall, during his transition period in this photo from The Gazette’s archives.

side of the USC so that I could start planning and understanding the context of what was going on,” Whelan said.

Student office is reserved for the more ambitious types. Candidates prepare platforms that outline their plans for office, and once elected are at times very eager to make a difference. The only problem is that things look different from the inside.

“Within the job, you look at things from the outside and say ‘I would totally not do that,’ or ‘I would change that’ and once you

get the opportunity to learn what’s going on you realize ‘That’s what’s going on, that’s why it’s the way it is,’” Jas Irwin, USC vice-president communications, said.

USC positions are comprehensive. Eager new executives have dreams of revolutionizing the position and accomplishing all the things they had originally set out to do. But as Irwin explains, simply learning the position is half the battle. “[It] was good education to listen first and speak second, which sounds like I’m Confucius but it

means a lot in this job when your primary goal is to be a sponge, because you are given an incredible amount of autonomy in the role, and your time during transition is to get all the information that you need,” Irwin said.

The eagerness wears off quickly, and the overwhelming task of balancing school, the job and planning the year to come takes over. To survive, executives must learn how to manage time effectively.

“I try to be careful not to frame it in my head as ‘I don’t have time to do that,’ it’s ‘I choose to not spend

my time doing that,’” Irwin said.

“Pat has a really good chart. It’s the idea of something that is urgent versus not urgent, or important versus non-important — it’s a quadrant.”

The preparation stage is a lot of information loading, and the best form of time management is prioritizing. Being able to decide what is important, and what can wait is key, and in the months leading up to the job, developing strong prioritizing techniques that can be carried over into the month of May can only be beneficial. There are only so many hours in the day that can be spent.

Should candidates get more slack? What’s the point

of demerit points?

Brent Holmes ARTS & LIFE EDITOR The University Students’ Council presidential elections come with a ton of work and responsibilities for those involved — making videos and posters, arguing in debates and engaging with students. For students running for the USC positions, this means a hard strain on their academic lives.

“Being a TA and school comes first,” said presidential candidate Matt Helfand. “The balance is difficult but so is the balance of doing the job itself — so in that sense, its a preparation for what is to come.”

“I think one of the hardest was I wrote a mid-term last week on the same day as the debate,” Brian Belman, presidential candidate, said. “Even though I knew about it in advance, when there’s a lot happening on the same day, it can be hard to know which time to prioritize.”

For those running in the USC elections, the preparations are made early in the year. Often, candidates need to approach their professors well in advance.

“The best way to describe it is to have that conversation [with your professors] at the beginning of January when you start your new courses,” said Pat Whelan, current USC president. “Set expectations that this is something that is really important to you and you will be working really hard on it — not to say the class isn’t — but it’s just about starting that conversation

Jesica Hurst ONLINE EDITOR

Spencer Fairweather GAZETTE

early.”

Getting academic release is sometimes a necessity for USC candidates, but it varies from professor to professor on how accommodation may be given.

“Generally, I would say I’m not in favour of such accommodations,” said Patrick Kennedy, a writing professor who has one of the USC candidates in his class.

“Although I can imagine situations in which they might be reasonable. The student needs to take responsibility here since he or she is the one who chose the extracurricular. The idea that students should get a ‘get out of jail’ card free because they want to do something extra-curricular doesn’t fly.”

However, Kennedy also noted that sometimes extra-curricular activities could provide beneficial learning experiences outside the classroom that are invaluable to students.

“Each situation, each student, is different, but the initiative for addressing any conflicts rests entirely with the student,” he said.

For the current presidential candidates, the stress of running a campaign is only a hopeful promise of what is to come, and the preparations have been a long time coming.

“The biggest thing is being proactive. I made sure that as soon as I knew what my courses were I made a calendar for when any exams were and when anything was due, so that nothing would come up unexpectedly,” Belman said.

“I can imigine it’s harder for [my slate mates],” Helfand said. “They have more courses than me and they’re presidents of their own affiliate councils. Their jobs come first and their schoolwork comes first. It’s a challenge, just like the job itself is a challenge.”

It happens every year — an individual candidate or slate accidentally (or sometimes even purposely) violates the rules of bylaw 2 during the campaign period, and is given between one and 15 demerit points.

While demerit points play a part in keeping the slates in line, it has been questioned whether or not they impact who students will vote for. Presidential candidate Matt Helfand explained that while his slate has already received demerit points — one for campaigning materials in an unauthorized area and five for pre-campaigning — he doesn’t think it will have any influence on the outcome.

“When a demerit point gets announced, I think it really depends on the violation — some people will see it as reasonable, and some people won’t,” Helfand said.

“If it’s something like violating the spirit of the elections, that’s something that people will notice, but if it’s something as silly as accidentally releasing your platform and getting five points for that, then I don’t think that’s something that will ultimately have a bearing on students’ decisions.”

Presidential candidate Brian Belman agreed that demerit points might not have a strong influence on the outcome of the election, but he would like to think that students

SUMMARY OF DEMERITS

TEAM TEAM vs.

BELMAN HELFAND

07 Naira Ahmed GAZETTE

care if candidates are following the rules.

“I know that in past elections I always looked at the demerit points, and I do care about how the election is run,” Belman said. “I think how the election is run can be a good indication of how the year will be run in the future.”

When asked why Team Belman hasn’t been strategic about breaking certain rules, Belman explained he believes in his team’s ideas, and doesn’t think it is necessary to break any rules in order to win.

For each demerit point a slate collects, they are also fined $10.

If they accumulate more than 30 demerit points during the campaign, they are automatically disqualified from the race.

6•

thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

Naira Ahmed GAZETTE

thegazette

Volume 107, Issue 68 www.westerngazette.ca

Julian Uzielli Editor-In-Chief Cameron M. Smith Deputy Editor Jason Sinukoff Managing Editor

Contact: www.westerngazette.ca University Community Centre Rm. 263 The University of Western Ontario London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580 Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Robert Armstrong

Diana Watson

Gazette Staff 2013-2014

Christine Bonk, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn, Spencer Fairweather, Conrad Floryan, Sam Frankel, Janice Fung, Stephanie Grella, Dorothy Kessler, Kevin Heslop, Jenny Jay, Nathan Kanter, Katie Lear, Emory Liu, Cheryl Madliger, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Vidhant Pal, Lily Robinson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Hamza Tariq, Josh Teixera, Anne Wozney, Tristan Wu

News Richard Raycraft Megan Devlin Iain Boekhoff Jeremiah Rodriguez Arts & Life Brent Holmes Mary Ann Ciosk Bradley Metlin Sports Daniel Weryha Nusaiba Al-Azem Caitlin Martin Newnham Opinions Kevin Hurren

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•7

thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

The ultimate USC elections party

ABOUT THE USC? Mary Ann Ciosk ARTS & LIFE EDITOR

Midori Kuwahara GAZETTE

Jeremiah Rodriguez NEWS EDITOR There are only a few parties that students look forward to each year.

Halloween? I suppose, if you like seeing skimpy nurse outfits or chiselled cavemen. O-Week? It’s cool, I guess.

Maybe St. Patrick’s Day and wearing green and getting wonderfully drunk? They’re all fun, if that’s your thing. Do what makes you happy.

But in all seriousness, Western’s diamond in the rough is the fabled USC elections party, an event universally known as a debaucheryfilled, lecherous, Great Gatsby-level extravaganza. In preparation for the sheer madness of the night, you’ve likely bumped into friends putting up decorations and fully stocking their fridges with hard liquor.

Don’t worry Western, we, The Gazette, will be your guides.

Freshmen, take note. You can’t risk messing up your first elections party lest you be labelled a beta.

The decorations for each party will consist of non-threatening colours like green or blue. The full body posters of the candidates are a little jarring at first but pretty soon you’ll wonder how you could get drunk without them.

When you arrive at a party, you’ll traditionally be given a candidate’s face mask and you usually have to cut the eyeholes out — so bring scissors. If you’re planning on hosting one in your residence common area, make sure to have the television screens fixed on the cable networks whose correspondents are likely to be descending onto campus.

To avoid awkwardness, make sure you’re not going to a Belman soirée if you and your family bleed Helfand.

To have a direct ear to their campaigns, make sure to follow candidates’ Twitter accounts for updates that aren’t monotonous or regurgitated at all.

If you’d prefer to be at a bar, going out is how one can truly experience an elections party. Dressing up to the nines is strongly advised. It should be noted that campus police have advised students not to attempt going home if they cannot do so without stumbling.

Going to the Spoke or the Wave is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the fervour and congested atmosphere of voters carving out the bar along party lines might be overwhelming. With everyone on edge, brawls are just one spilled drink away. But on the other hand, if your candidate wins it’s likely that your side of the room will be hilariously hammered — though the losing area

will see just as much binge drinking.

Once the president-elect and incumbent slate bring out their live animal sacrifices, The Gazette strongly advises attendees log out of Twitter and Facebook, so the criminal courts can’t prove you did anything illegal.

When the sororities and fraternities offer up their virgin pledges as an offering to the Mustang goddess, I usually call it a night, because everyone has limits.

After the night is over and the sun rises above the horizon, you will be hard-pressed not to love democracy and wonder why student elections were ever considered an unadulterated waste of time — which they totally aren’t.

Who cares about USC elections?

7,843 students cast a vote for a team in last year’s USC Executive Slate election — that’s only about a third of the total number of undergraduates enrolled in the 2012/2013 year. Although this dismal statistic alone is enough to cause concern, what’s more disheartening is that the highest attendance rate at an electoral debate so far this year has only been about 70 students.

This raises the question of not only why students don’t vote, but how voters decide which candidate to support. Is it plausible that the other approximately 7,773 students have thoroughly investigated the platforms and candidates on their own, analyzed the data, and made an informed choice without attending the debates? It seems unlikely.

In interviewing 10 randomly selected students in the University Community Centre atrium, only feet away from Brian Belman and Matt Helfand’s promotional booths, it became clear that there was little interest in and even less knowledge about elections. Jeremy Buckley, a third-year Geography student, admits that the only elections he followed were in 2012 when the voting system was hacked. He went on to explain why.

“I don’t think any student would notice a difference [in who’s

elected] — unless they got a day off school or something. In the three years I’ve been here I haven’t noticed a difference that the presidents have brought. I think the reason students don’t pay attention is that they’re already pretty happy as it is,” Buckley said.

Jessica Nguyen, a first-year FIMS student, expressed similar sentiments.

“I’m kind of neutral. I don’t feel that connected to the platforms or the things they’re planning to do,” she said. “I really don’t think their platforms are that different. I’m not expecting them to be able to change that much.”

The issue may be that students don’t desire any real change.

Nguyen continued, “Campus doesn’t seem that bad to me.”

Interestingly, most students interviewed said they believed that there would be a noticeable difference to them as students next year depending on which team was elected, yet the majority also said they didn’t plan to vote or were unsure if they would.

Perhaps it’s assumed that whatever changes will occur next year under the USC’s direction will not be significant enough to compel them to care.

Many cited a lack of knowledge about the campaign platforms as an additional cause of apathy, knowing little more about the candidates than their names — and sometimes

not even that. While most students were familiar with the presidential candidates’ last names, not a single student interviewed knew the first names of both Brian Belman and Matt Helfand.

Is poor campaigning to blame for this, or the students, for not seeking out information?

When asked about their perspective on the elections, many students said they were only aware of it due to the promotional signs and did not know much beyond that.

“No, I don’t really know what’s going on — I saw the signs. I don’t even know who is running. I just saw the banners, ‘vote for whoever,’” said Natalie Kwan, first-year Biology student.

“I don’t want to say that it’s just [a competition for] who can have the best sign...” Buckley said, trailing off in an attempt to be politically correct.

The promotions on campus have been effective in bringing awareness to the campaign’s occurrence, but apparently not in providing students with a reason to care and assist them in making an informed decision regarding who to vote for. Although many students are passionately involved in election season, it may be wise to place more emphasis on how to reach out to the vast majority of the student body who aren’t acquainted with Matt and Brian.

Do you have an idea for an activity or event that will strengthen and benefit the undergraduate student community at Western?

Would the activity or event be held on campus and be accessible to a large number of undergraduates?

Would the event help Western undergraduates achieve any of the following goals?

• DEVELOP STUDENT SKILLS • SUPPORT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY ON CAMPUS • PROVIDE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES TO WESTERN UNDERGRADUATES

APPLY FOR A USC GRANT NOW!

NEXT GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEB. 15TH.

GO TO WWW.WESTERNLINK.CA

8•

thegazette • Friday, February 7, 2014

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519-661-3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

classifieds

thegazette HOUSING

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