Thursday, November 26th 2009
Tallulah Andrews
OPINIONS
The preliminary results of the “Pop Poll: Do Elections Make the Grade” have been released and they fail to answer even the title question. However, I shall provide the proper answer: F (or 0.0 using the 12- point scale). No one in their right mind would think the campus elections should pass. Most have single digit voter turn out. This is not a democratic system. The majority of nine per cent is not a mandate.
The poll conducted last week by the elections committee was deeply flawed and biased. Each question had only 5 possible answers limiting one’s responses to the standard expected answers. Clearly the ranking system of the poll was a waste of time as well, since the public results make no reference to it. It only serves to make the results ambiguous. Are the 958 votes for one week campaigns those who ranked them first? Or those who put it in their top three?
There will be no revelations from the results of this poll; the structure of the poll prevents it. Any policy based on this “new” information will continue to fail as efficiently as the current policy. This is supposed to be a research intensive university but our own MSU can’t seem to create a fair, effective poll.
Also, there is no evidence the people who filled out the poll are the ones not voting because apparently no one thought to include that in the questions. Furthermore, the number of respondents to the poll is on-par with turn out at the last MSU presidential election, which is hardly representative of the student body.
The real reason for low voter turn out was not even included in the possible answers: nobody cares. It takes less than a minute to fill out a ballot and less than 10 to identify and get to your polling station, even the busiest course load has plenty of time to spare. Resumes and platforms are fairly easy to access as well if you’re willing to spend 30 minutes of Facebook time looking for them. There is no excuse for not voting if you want to.
This apathy has little to do with “not understanding” what the MSU really does. The MSU has not done a single exciting, significant thing the entire three years I have been here. The closest we got to controversy was whether to renew the deal with Coca-Cola.
If the biggest thing you’ve done in recent memory was slightly affect the availability of a brand of soda on campus how can you expect people to think your half-dozen minor elections are at all important.
The key to increasing voter turn out is simple: make the MSU seem influential in the lives of students. Throwing a few parties and repainting the student bar won’t cut it.
The recent TA strike is a perfect example. The MSU could have taken a side and possibly actually made a difference; sure this would have angered some people but at least people would be talking about it. Instead they used the diplomatic, avoiding-controversy strategy and remained neutral which makes them appear weak and ineffective.
Less dramatic but still more exciting than the status-quo would have been to include poll questions about the number of elections held and/or which positions should/should not be elected on their poll. Finding out students don’t want to vote for their board of governors member or do want to elect the VP Finance would be much more interesting than whether they prefer online ballots or casting stones.
Reducing the number of elections could increase voter turn out, because value is closely tied to rarity. People are much more likely to read and take notice of the first few posters they see, than when the student centre is plastered by a hundred posters for only a couple of different candidates.
The MSU is quickly sliding into irrelevancy and this poll is but one example of their own disinterest in changing this fact. If they wanted to get serious about increasing voter turn out, they would not be wasting our time with a poll designed to give them exactly the answer they want to hear. It’s time they took their heads out of their Political Science textbooks and actually looked at reality.
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I’d like to challenge all the MSU supporters out there to prove me wrong,
Please list the actual tangible changes to student life the MSU has achieved in the past 3 years.
Tallulah Andrews
Taking a side on a strike would have been a disaster (see, York)
I have been on the SRA since January, gaining my seat via by-election.
During my time on the assembly I have been a part of:
- Joining CASA as a federal lobbying body
- OUSA Street Team, in conjunction with the General Meeting hosted by McMaster
- Currently planning the return of SUPERPUB
- Currently working on integrating the MSU with ELM
- MUSC Board of Management -> Approved and installed the new 2nd floor study area
- Renovations of 1280 (I scrutinized the project start to finish)
- Succesful merger of Campus Events and Avtek
- Homecoming Concert Ft. Arkells
- Charity Ball 2009: Shipwrecked which raised $30,000 for CURE Canada
- Shaids of Grey (a CURE Canada play), formally an MSU Club
- Involvement with Campus Health to keep Oral Contraceptives available this school year
- Ratification of MSU Clubs 2009/2010 (many students involved/affected)
** If you want any more information, feel free to contact your SRA Representatives.
SRA representative matt,
i’m sorry but i will not give you a virtual pat on the back. instead, i’ve broken down your “list of achievements” into 3 categories:
Social bullshit that nobody attends:
Superpub, homecoming, charity ball, shaids of grey
Stuff nobody gives a shit about:
OUSA street team, Avtek, MUSC board of management, MSU Clubs
Shit that doesn’t work:
ELM, 1280
You should be proud of your work, Matt Wright. You’ve worked for 10 months and all you have to show for it is the biggest deficit in McMaster history, a bar that can’t sell beer to students, oral contraceptives, and self-promoting cunts like yourself who treat the MSU like a highschool government.
Keep up the good work.
Wow, you actually just mouthed off 250+ school clubs, the right to affordable birth control and an Aids fundraising benefit – what an ignorant douchebag you are! Forgive me if I’m unsympathetic to your bullshit criticisms. Your words aren’t worth the laptop your parents bought you.
Way to go, sensible. You’ve successfully made an ass of yourself from behind a computer screen. My office hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:30 to 10:20 in MUSC 204 if you’d like to talk more about the MSU face to face.
I wouldn’t say he made an ass of himself?… In fact, though sensible’s response was made mostly for effect, I don’t think you can deny that most of the MSU’s actions have made no effect on the student body. Instead, most of them have catered to your own self-interests and not of the people you are supposed to represent.
I’d love to come visit and talk about this Matt, but I hardly see the point. The last time I attempted to give feedback was on the pop poll. And, well, until the current administration gets replaced, resigns, or deported to the Gulag, I’ll never try and improve your treehouse government ever again.
I can assure you that the MSU’s decisions have surely not been in the best interest of anyone specifically. Come by tomorrow or wednesday; perhaps you will see that the “treehouse government” does need some improvement and it starts with students such as yourself telling people how we can serve you better.
That’s right Matt, we should all come in and tell you how to do your job.
Clean up your own mess and while you’re at it, have the dignity to refrain from calling the students you represent names .. it may affect your already stellar approval rating.
Tallulah Andrews makes a constructive observation when noting that the survey would have been better if respondents had also been asked if they had voted in recent elections — perhaps there could have been check-off boxes for each the MSU presidential (February), SRA general (March), and Board of Governors (October).
Sadly, much of the balance of the column was less constructive and in some cases ill-informed. She posits that students may be interested in electing some positions more others. Perhaps so, but in some cases — such as the undergraduate representative on the Board of Governors — an election is required under provincial law.
Voters, whether in student/university governance at Mac, or in municipal, school board, provincial, or federal arenas, need to be persuaded that the issues are relevant and that the candidate(s) are worthy. This is a message that must be carried by the candidate themselves. Those who aren’t happy with the calibre of the candidates or the message — then get out there and do it better themselves.
It’s easy to be an armchair critic, firing off indignant barbs about the irrelevance of candidates or voting. It takes more effort to roll-up sleeves and be part of the solution.
Hey I’m Matthew Dillon-Leitch and I just joined the SRA Humanities in the by election. To be honest with you prior to this year I never really was involved in the MSU, and it wasn’t until I was a rep in welcome week that I started to “get involved.” So I get it, students don’t care about student politics and for a long time neither did I.
I think what Dave Moore and to some extent this article spoke of was correct. We need to focus on issues that are worthy of students time. Whether this be talking about the 1280 debacle or questioning the BOD. As members of the SRA we need to recognize that we are the actual representatives of the students, and personally I feel the only way I can represent them is if I know what they think. So I have organized and done class visits, and made a Facebook group (Humanities SRA) and tried to be as active as I can, but you know what I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t have students telling me things that they want us to tackle, I don’t have e-mails or posts talking about issues they care about, and rather than blame the students, or say YOU SHOULD JOIN THE SRA, personally I think it’s our (the SRA’s) fault. We haven’t created a community where students feel comfortable to talk to us or really even know/care who we are. Sure it’s on the MSU website but really who looks there unless they are looking for classes/Mugsi. So I want to take responsibility for this.
The question then becomes how do I fix this? Personally I want to visit classes and talk to students as much as I can (without being annoying) Perhaps a 3 day period so I can hit 1st – 4th year classes in my faculty 4 times a semester. I started the visits in November in which myself and my caucus picked one specific big issue and we did not take a stance on it so that students could make up their own mind. The talk itself lasted about 45 seconds to a class (any longer and we = annoying)
The bottom line is that students don’t care about student politics. They don’t feel represented, and they either don’t feel comfortable talking to the SRA or again just don’t care. I want to change this and I’m willing to do what it takes. You (humanity students) elected me, and I’m here to do what you actually want, not what I think you want. Even if you think the class talks are a bad idea…tell me why. If you have any ideas, or questions about what was mentioned earlier in this discussion, please shoot them off to me, post them here, or even on the Facebook group (Humanities SRA)
My e-mail is leitchio1@gmail.com
Do it.
A few random points:
@Sensible. I do not understand what your point here is; No offence but your entire rant is based on myopia and a selfish view of the whole thing. Just because you think whatever Mr Wright achieved in office is “useless” and doesn’t “work” that doesn’t mean he didn’t try or that he could have done something different if given the chance. You fail to understand the limits and mandate of an SRA member; we do not have the power to wield a magic wand and make all the problems go away, all we can do is give our very best to represent the interests of the students and come up with initiatives that we believe can improve student life. Though that obviously is a hypothetical/idealistic statement, call me naive for believing most of us are on the SRA for the aforementioned theory!
You are just one of the 19,000 students on campus who are equal members of the MSU, if you think something is useless/unimportant, doesn’t necessarily mean others feel the same. Having said that I will admit I don’t have quantifiable data concerning usage of MSU Services/Events, it is something I am privately working on though(consumer preference model)
A couple of factual errors: What Mr Wright was saying by “scrutiny” is that he was actively involved in debate regarding the feasibility of spending $375k on a Bar that had already lost $400k the previous year. All of that is available in the minutes. Secondly “ELM”, what most people don’t realize is that ELM was never a UTS project(which incidentally has nothing to do with the MSU), it was a project they were asked to mop up after the company the administration tasked with creating that portal failed.
Yes I know you will now proceed to call me a self promoting and possibly condescending “cunt”; but the thing is SRA elections are open to anyone as long as they get 15 signatures from their constituents. After that all it takes is to have “better ideas”(I’m assuming you do) then people like Matt Wright to be able to engage the people who don’t vote.
@Tallulah Can you please point out three “tangible” things another student union In Canada has done? I agree with you that MSU hasn’t been at its effective best as far as I have been a McMaster student but “tangible” changes isn’t what a student union is in place for. In the end the power rests with the administration for most of our beef, all we can do is quantify student opinion and lobby. I find it funny that the MSU to whom you only give a few hundred dollars of your tuition is such a huge target of your ire. But the McMaster Administration to whom thousands of dollars go to every year, and who is responsible for a number of things you might list as possibly wrong with your University experience is not at all a part of your rant?
That is exactly the mandate of most Sil Staff members, To bash their representative organization with flawed/factually wrong arguments; An organization that is providing experience and jobs to hundreds of students with no prior background in this field while the Administration goes unpunished. How Counterproductive is that? Its easy to target 20 year old student leaders, try catching some bigger fish.
Thirdly, we are obligated bylaw to hold an election whenever a seat on the SRA is vacated due to resignation(happens several times a year). I fail to see how you see a system with “less” elections working out, we only hold elections whenever it is necessary. As Dave Moore Pointed out the Elections department initiates an election whenever the bylaws state they should be held. We have the same number of elections as other student unions in the world. Can you please elaborate as to how your less election theory will work?
Fourthly, You said “The recent TA strike is a perfect example. The MSU could have taken a side and possibly actually made a difference; sure this would have angered some people but at least people would be talking about it. ”
I have a question: Do you remember the situation at York last year where the student body actually took a side?
There are many complications with taking a side, you are right in saying it will anger a certain side. But is it in the “Best interests” of the larger student body to take a certain side? Ideally a stance on such issues will be decided by a majority SRA vote, I doubt the SRA would adopt a majority stance for/against any side.
As an example the CUPE side was promoting the “We are fighting against Larger class sizes/enrollments and budget cuts and reduction in Quality of education.” Had we taken a stance against Cupe and for the administration(hypothetically). Do you see the complications that arise when we as the Student Representatives take a stance against “Quality of Education”?
Apathy cannot be solved with creating unnecessary controversy and taking politically naive stances on issues; It goes against student interests.
Another hypothetical question: We have a Bylaws Committee & An Operations Committee for the MSU. All they do the entire year is edit/research/improve our Bylaws and Operating Policies. If they are doing a hugely impressive job, will you accuse them of being “useless” because what they do doesn’t directly improve your life “tangibly”?
Everyone has a role to play, If you have any better ideas I would highly encourage you to run in the March SRA elections.
[/rant]
Huzaifa Saeed
SRA Social Sciences
Dearest Mr. Saeed:
I’ve made some notes on your cranberry juice induced rant, here are my notes:
1) “You fail to understand the limits and mandate of an SRA member; we do not have the power to wield a magic wand and make all the problems go away, all we can do is give our very best to represent the interests of the students and come up with initiatives that we believe can improve student life. Though that obviously is a hypothetical/idealistic statement, call me naive for believing most of us are on the SRA for the aforementioned theory!”
- If I have this right.. from what you just said the MSU are following a hypothetical/idealistic statement, and that most of you are on the SRA for this very reason… alright. Quite a bold move, if you don’t mind me saying so.. Not going to lie, I wish this magic wand existed.. for your sake at least.
2 ) “You are just one of the 19,000 students on campus who are equal members of the MSU, if you think something is useless/unimportant, doesn’t necessarily mean others feel the same. Having said that I will admit I don’t have quantifiable data concerning usage of MSU Services/Events, it is something I am privately working on though(consumer preference model)”
- This little rant basically explains that you have no evidence to back up your remarks concerning my criticism of the (mis)usage of MSU services/events. Alright… so what exactly are you arguing? … other than the fact that there are 19,000 other students who are laughing at every single thing you and your constituents come up with?
Huzaifa, I am not calling you a self-promoting cunt, as you fail to come up with any persuasive argument at all.. no self-promotion there. Of all things I would call you a cunt in general, as your response has wasted my time, along with any other sorry soul who has decided to read it. You are simply backing up a colleague in need of support, as your administration is a laughing stock of our students. I don’t blame you for backing up Mr. Wright, but I will ask you to develop a more factual and interesting argument next time.. instead of giving me the same old emotional backlash that every single MSU member seems to give the Sil whenever their “role” in contemporary student life is brought up.
One last thing, I don’t have better ideas for the MSU. I have forfeited all hope in your organization, and I sincerely mean this. If you have any common sense left I request that yourself and Matthew Wright resign, and that your positions are filled by monkeys (or any other type of primate for that matter) who will do a better job at representing the tribe. I wouldn’t mind more bananas at union market, afterall.
Feel free to reply again, perhaps I am mistaken. Please.. enlighten me.
Well I am at a loss at how exactly to respond to your overwhelming negativity.
Here’s what I meant, I apologize for the big fail in rhetoric:
The SRA Doesn’t have a magic wand to do whatever they think is a “good” thing for their constituents. Most projects/initiatives have to pass through a good filter of bureaucracy and standing committees and the Board of Directors before it even comes to the assembly. Once in the assembly it requires 2/3rd majority from an assembly of 34 people before getting passed; despite your best intentions there will be people with . The entire process is time consuming, demotivating and unproductive. It is quintessentially student governments at their very best. I have had a couple of experiences like this myself, where I have almost given up on the ability of the current group of student leaders to be able to initiate my somewhat radical ideas, I’ll have to attempt next year. I only wish I could explain further…..
Hence what I meant was that the SRA members within these constraints is: “All we can do is give our very best to represent the interests of the students and come up with initiatives that we believe can improve student life.” In other words we can give our best at whatever we can do. That is why I was suggesting you join the SRA and see how it is like.
As for #2 I can go into and look up a long list of sales figures & How the MSU funds the largest number of clubs on campus and on and on; but It really wouldn’t accomplish anything because the only way you will probably realize the role of our student run services is if they all shut down for a certain amount of time. The importance you place on them(presumably not all that much) is highly subjective to your view of the MSU government. Which is something I don’t really understand.
I could say the same about your line: “other than the fact that there are 19,000 other students who are laughing at every single thing you and your constituents come up with?”
So what is your quantifiable evidence for the above line? :S
About the Sil the reason “pro-MSU” are not their biggest fan is because of one reason: They are insistent on trashing the MSU and blaming it for a number of things wrong on our campus. However they make no productive efforts to provide solutions as to how the MSU can do a better job, nor do they make any efforts to engage the said student body. Its just one sided negativity; which doesn’t really accomplish much.
I would like, at this point in time, to humbly point out to Huzaifa Saeed that the article above and the views expressed within it are part of the Opinions section of the Silhouette and stand independent of the paper and its editorial staff.
While her contribution is greatly appreciated, Tallulah Andrews is not affiliated with the Silhouette except by virtue of the fact that she is a student at this university and therefore has the essential right to voice her opinion in this newspaper.
The only Silhouette mandate at work here is the one to give several thousand independent students the opportunity to express themselves and be heard (Or at least that is my understanding of the function of the Opinions section). What those students believe in and what they choose to say is completely up to them. That is the “free” part of free speech. And it’s the part I like best, personally.
Mr Goffin,
I apologize if once again what I said was awkwardly worded. I was talking generally about the view within anyone who passes through student leadership within the MSU that the Sil has an overtly negative stance on anything MSU even in the Editorials. I have only been at McMaster for under two years and only on the SRA since October, however all I have heard or read on MacInsiders is that the Sil and MSU have been having a mini spat of sorts for the past few years. I do not understand why that is the case and how it is utilitarian in any way for both parties or the student body in general. I have read many editorials and opinion articles that pick out flaws with what the MSU does, It would be awesome if someone can actually provide solutions for our “issues” other then Mr Sensible’s “resign and be replaced by monkeys” bright idea.
With the influence the Sil as a media organization, a constructive article would go a long way in improving the quality of candidates we get, everyone has complained that the candidate’s platforms are usually shite, If so what is some of the stuff they should be concentrating on?
Also, one of the allegations I have heard is that the Sil “chooses” what Opinions to publish out of the many they receive hence removing the “free speech” philosophy of them. I do apologize though if that is not the case and you Mr Goffin publish all the opinions articles you receive.
On a random point why was Mr Corrigan Hammond’s “opinion” article as a MSU student published under her status as a Silhouette Editor?
Thanks
Huzaifa
Mr. Saeed, I do not believe any of your message was clouded by awkward wording. I understand what you are saying completely. I will now return the favour by being clear with you. Opinion articles are representative only of the person who writes them. When Corrigan Hammond writes an opinion, he writes it as Corrigan Hammond, McMaster student. Yes, he happens to work at the newspaper. As a music writer and editor. But he also happens to be a free-minded individual who can formulate his own ideas, just like every other person who has ever written an opinion article. The Silhouette as an institution is no more accountable for those people’s thoughts and words than they are for yours. In fact, there is a disclaimer to that effect on the Silhouette’s masthead.
I have read the comments made on MacInsiders and am quite dismayed by many of the sentiments expressed there. I can certainly see how one would get a negative view of the Silhouette from reading them. My advice to you, and to everyone, really, would be to form your own opinions on the state of the world, both within campus and without and not base your beliefs solely on heresay, “allegations”, and hard feelings posted on a message board.
Most importantly, though, as I believe I have previously explained to you in private correspondence, opinion articles are not accepted and rejected based on topic. Hardly any articles are rejected at all. In all honesty, if there is a disproportionate number of articles that are critical of the MSU, it is because the Silhouette receives more of them, and not because of some imaginary bias or conspiracy. I would also like to point out that in the most recent issue, an article written by Mary Koziol on the usefulness of campus politics and the MSU was featured quite prominently on the front page of the Opinions section. It was an original, relevant, well-written piece and made it into the section for just those reasons.
That’s all there is to it.
Mr. Goffin,
It is unfortunate that you seem to be unaware of the real reasons why the Silhouette remains to be a joke on campus. Let me enlighten you.
1) It is the only student newspaper in Canada with as many as 19 paid editors.
2) It is actively avoiding emancipation with the MSU in any manner, other than editorial. The fact remains that $100,000 of the MSU’s operating budget is dedicated to paying for the costs of the Silhouette.
3) It does not publish anything news-worthy at the time of publication. Most students are connected to social media and hear about news from MacInsiders, Daily News, or the Spectator.
4) It has a hiring board that is internal and very opaque. The fact remains: the Executive Editor of the Silhouette has generally held the Managing Editor position previously.
5) It “circulates” 10,000 issues. Sorry, let me clarify. It prints 10,000 issues. Half never leave the loading dock, and another quarter never leave the stands. A more accurate statement would be that the Silhouette wastes money printing 3 times the amount of issues that it should.
6) It is the only student-organization on campus to send 19 staff members to a week long Conference in Calgary, on the dime of other students. I believe that distinction still holds this year ($12,000 in 2008/09 spent on “conferences”)
7) It bashes the MSU without committing to research the MSU. It appears that the Silhouette has not heard of investigative journalism and would rather rely on speculative journalism.
Newsflash: there is plenty to write about. Yet, the biggest MSU developments do not make it to newsprint — unless the information is hand delivered. (See: the audited statements.)
—
The Silhouette is very much a shadow of the MSU. The staff might be awesome people individually, but collectively, a lazy groupthink mentality emerges and the people paying your bills do not benefit in the least.
It’s not you personally, but it is the institution as a whole.
“It appears to be the only newspaper in the english-speakign world to neither own a spellcheck nor a proper definition of the word “edit”.
I would just like to point out the hilariousness that is your multiple errors in a post critiquing the sil…
You’d think you would at least look your comment over once before criticizing their spelling…
@ the SRA
“It would be awesome if someone can actually provide solutions for our “issues” ….
With the influence the Sil as a media organization, a constructive article would go a long way in improving the quality of candidates we get, everyone has complained that the candidate’s platforms are usually shite, If so what is some of the stuff they should be concentrating on?”
I don’t understand why someone other than the SRA should “provide solutions” for the issues concerning the student body? As our representatives wouldn’t that be the very thing you are elected to do? I dont mean offence here, I genuinely want to know what the role of the SRA is. It seems like you’re asking for an instruction manual from the student body and the school paper.
On another topic, I dont understand what the issue is with regards to this:
“the Executive Editor of the Silhouette has generally held the Managing Editor position previously”
This makes perfect sense to me. Shouldn’t the Executive Editor be the individual with the greatest experience for the position, which the previous Managing Editor would have?
@ the Silhouette
I don’t understand about the conferences. How many conferences is the Silhouette attending a year? And why did the entire cost come out of students’ pockets? Again, I dont mean any offence, I just feel like a lot is being left unsaid by both parties and as a student at Mac I would like a better understanding of the situation.
The Silhouette goes to one conference a year. And as far as I know the staff contributes to the cost.