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The University of Maine was devoid of election fervor in Thursday’s student body presidential race, which saw incumbent Anthony Ortiz win with 60 percent of the vote.
Unlike most campaigns, there have been few colorfully chalked walkways, Memorial Union walls plastered with flyers or chatter among students.
The spirit of the democratic process to choose the populace’s most favored leader has dwindled down to nothing more than lack of interest on the part of UMaine undergraduates.
It’s the million-dollar question: How can Student Government increase the involvement and interest of the student body? It is asked in almost every campaign. But Student Government isn’t at all disadvantaged by the lack of participation.
Now that the election is over, rhetoric has changed. This vote means voting power will ultimately disappear from student hands if our leaders are chosen from inside University of Maine Student Government.
Ortiz’s opponent, former student Sen. Rebekah Dunham, said it best during a debate earlier this month — when moderator Michael Shepherd, editor in chief of The Maine Campus, asked if there would be any potential issues if Ortiz were to win — stating, “We’ve lost that one really imperative point: In order to have an elected body, we need elected officials.”
There are the experienced senators who are qualified to run for office. Sen. Sam Helmke, the president pro tempore of the senate, is in line for Ortiz’s position when Ortiz, Vice President Caleb Rosser and Vice President of Financial Affairs Nathan Kinney graduate in May. He has run meetings before and has a good grasp on parliamentary procedure.
Helmke has always planned to run, so why didn’t he take this opportunity to run for Rosser’s position?
What it comes down to is loyalty to friends and self-interest. The senator is close friends with the current vice president, and, as a result, didn’t want to prevent his friend from regaining the position by running for it himself.
Usually students who have participated in some area of University of Maine Student Government participate in the elections. However, the once notorious, drama-fused organization has evolved into a “Brady Bunch”-like family, where loyalty and togetherness are at the core of their values.
This is partially due to the fact that the senate is comprised of new members, most of whom do not have the experience to run for office nor support needed to win leadership seats.
What students must comprehend is that the uncontested vice-presidential election — and the Ortiz win — take away a basic democratic privilege. The general student body may not care about the workings of Student Government, but they should care that in the long run that they won’t be able to choose leaders until next October.
This is the major disadvantage of students not participating in Student Government. What should be an elected body transforms into oligarchy. Every decision is conducted from within the organization without much popular input.
Some will argue that it is in the interest of the students to preserve the stability of the organization — a play on Hobbes’ political thought. However, is it worth taking the fundamental rights of the students?
Despite Dunham winning just 34 percent of the vote, she should be commended for running against Ortiz. She allowed the student body to at least have a chance to exercise their fundamental rights in choosing a leader — an admirable road Helmke, likely your future president, should have taken.
As United States Army Officer George S. Patton once said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
If Student Government members are not challenging one another’s ideas or authority, nothing truly fulfilling can come out of their organization. Progress on thoughts and ideas will be lacking due to the fact that in both the senate and general student body choose to follow or stand back. As a result, students are paying the consequences in losing a considerable privilege.
Pardis Delijani is a fourth-year international affairs student.
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