Ken Seville
The Silhouette

Next week, you, members of the Senate Executive Committee will make a decision on whether to ratify the results of the recent University Planning and Budget Committee election. With under four per cent of eligible voters casting their ballot, you have to make a choice between ratifying the results and welcoming a warm body for quorum, or choosing to run another election in which a democratically significant percentage of students clearly select a representative.

This decision will be very revealing as to how the Senate views student representation. To accept a result of four per cent turnout indicates that the Senate believes it takes no special skill to be an effective representative for the over 20,000 undergraduate students.

I argue that this belief is incorrect. This position requires the candidate to integrate the diverse interests of undergraduates and apply them when considering major decisions that affect all university stakeholders, including deliberating on a nearly one billion dollar budget. Does that sound like a job that just anyone can do effectively? As previously stated, this decision will be very revealing.

As for possible solutions, I believe that running the university-wide elections concurrently with the MSU presidential election in February will increase undergraduate participation to a similar level of approximately 20-25 per cent of eligible voters. In a two-pronged attack on voter apathy, McMaster University should share in the responsibility, along with student organizations, student leaders, and students themselves (the electorate) of raising awareness of the positions to which student leaders are elected and the decisions made by those in said positions.

If university-wide decision-making bodies want true representation and not just a warm body, we must reject minimum participation in elections and actively foster an environment cheap viagra for sale online where an informed electorate makes democratically significant choices for their representatives.

Jacob Brodka

Website: Brodka2013.com
Facebook: Elect Jacob Brodka for MSU President
Twitter: @BRODKA2013
Video 1: BRODKA 2013: UP FROM HERE
Video 2: BRODKA 2013: Our Platform (see the BRODKA2013 channel for other platform videos)
Headquarters: Student Centre, on the balcony to the left of the entrance from the arts quad

[youtube id="7J0jaNOWH6Y" width="620" height="360"]

David Campbell
Website: DavidCampbell2013.com
Facebook: Elect David Campbell for MSU President
Twitter: @VoteDC2013
Video: Vote David Campbell for MSU President
More Video: See David's channel for videos related to his platform
Headquarters: Student Centre, next to Booster Juice

[youtube id="giPTvOpvghU" width="620" height="360"]

James Dowdall
Website: JamesDowdall.com
Facebook: Elect James Dowdall for MSU President
Twitter: @JamesDowdall1
Video: It's Time - James Dowdall, MSU President 2013
Headquarters: Student Centre, a table near the front entrance

[youtube id="cTPgcfpFkYs" width="620" height="360"]

Adrian Emmanuel
Facebook: Emperor Adrian I
Twitter: @bradrian
Video: Space Maroon Proclamation

[youtube id="NsmQhQRLZqA" width="620" height="360"]

Dan Fahey
Website: Dan4MSU.ca
Facebook: Elect Dan for MSU President

Headquarters: Student Centre, outside of Union Market

Haman Man
Website: Haman.ca
Facebook: Haman Man
Twitter: @MSUHaman

Rory Yendt
Website: RoryYendt.com
Facebook: Rory Yendt
Twitter: @RoryYendt

David Campbell and Jacob Brodka were setting up campaign headquarters in MUSC Sunday afternoon.

Campaigning for MSU president officially began at noon on Sunday, but not all of the seven candidates emerged at full force.

Jacob Brodka, David Campbell and James Dowdall wasted little time in launching their online and on-campus campaigns. Each lagged in certain areas, but generally appear to be frontrunners early in the race for the students union's top job.

Rory Yendt had some information on Facebook and was working on a website for most of Sunday, and then launched in the evening. Dan Fahey was still working on a campaign launch at the time, and little had been heard from Haman Man. Adrian Emmanuel began building his joke candidacy with a Facebook page and video.

The important campaigning won't really begin until Monday morning for the candidates, so there's still time for Emmanuel, Fahey, Man and Yendt to catch up on making a good first impression.

Here's our take on who won day one.

Website
Winner: Jacob Brodka

James Dowdall and Jacob Brodka launched live sites almost immediately, but Brodka's was stronger in design and content, except that his platform was only available in video form. Campbell's wasn't up until late sunday evening. Rory Yendt's site launched at around 8:30 p.m.

Facebook/Twitter
Winner: David Campbell

Campbell, with the help of his team and supporters, vaulted ahead of the pack in Facebook likes and was getting a lot of Twitter buzz. He was up over 300 likes by dinnertime on Sunday, and kept his feed interesting with photos from his video shoot.

Video
Winner: Jacob Brodka

Dowdall and Brodka launched videos right away. Brodka's got significantly more traffic, and was generally well-produced. In addition to his main video, Brodka launched another, interactive series of videos that contained his platform points. Campbell waited until 8 p.m. to launch a video after teasing it throughout the day. Campbell's video took a similar, light-hearted tone to Brodka's original video, featuring candidate and team having fun to upbeat music.

Campus Presence
Winner: Brodka and Campbell

Being the only two candidates to begin setting up spots in the student centre when campaigning began, Brodka and Campbell get a tie in this catergory. Campus was quiet on Sunday, but both were surrounded by their teams and colours, preparing for the week ahead. James Dowdall's team was also putting up posters, but chose not to set up a headquarters in MUSC so as not to take up space in an already congested area.

Seven candidates will compete for 2013-14 presidency of the McMaster Students Union.

Jacob Brodka
Second-year Life Science

David Campbell
Current MSU Vice-President (Administration)

James Dowdall
Fourth-year Math and Statistics

Adrian Emmanuel
Fourth-year Life Science

Daniel Fahey
Third-year Integrated Science

Haman Man
Unknown

Rory Yendt
Second-year Engineering

Candidates are not permitted to officially begin their campaigns until Sunday, Jan. 20 at noon, at which time they're expected to launch websites, put up posters and set up their campaign headquarters.

Voting will run from Jan. 29 to Jan. 31. The winner will take office on May 1 for a one-year, full-time post as the MSU's CEO.