Student politics, welcome to the world of the around-the-clock online election campaign. And a most interesting contest the race to select the next occupants of SAC’s (soon to be UTSU’s) Louis Stuart Observatory promises to be.
Paul Bretscher’s 2005 election sweep at the head of the Progress slate has brought a sense of calm to the student union after a stormy few years marred by in-fighting.
The work of the Progress team and its political descendents has been good for students, perhaps, but made for a duller student press. Switching health plan providers yielded savings, and spending on clubs has increased. Administrative costs, though, have also risen sharply.
Critics charge that the past two administrations have flirted too closely with the Canadian Federation of Students, a national student lobby group, through SAC’s intense involvement in the tuition fee fight.
Andrea Armborst’s Your Team slate represents a continuation of these policies, but also offers a lot of fresh faces-only two of the executive candidates are incumbents. Your Team promises to expand the health plan to include eye exams and to fight for a UPass-a discounted year-long Metropass-for students at the St. George campus. The price tag for these promises is unknown, but the UPass alone could increase student fees by a few hundred dollars.
Opposing the Your Team ticket is a centrist slate of candidates running under the New Deal banner. The slate aims to tap into some of the student anger at SAC’s participation in tuition fee protests. Their promise to reduce VP salaries by $5,000 to create needs-based grants underscores their ideological differences from the more left-leaning CFS, though they say they would work with and strive for reform from within the federation.
Surprisingly, the only independent in the election is Andrew Mackay, who is running for chairperson on a platform promising to save students money by reducing non-tuition student fees. Because of his lack of experience in student government, Mackay is a long shot, but he represents a genuinely fresh face. The athlete vote could help him-he’s a four-year member of the Varsity Blues football team.
Now that more and more students at U of T have signed up to the social network Facebook, the upcoming student union elections are the first in which the internet promises to play a pivotal role. The social network is a great way for students who don’t see each other face-to-face to connect, especially at a university where many students commute. Recognizing this, all the campaigns have formed groups to promote their candidates on Facebook. Voters are now able to scroll through questions on the different campaigns’ walls, and the candidates have been good about posting answers as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, the candidates are not using the network’s potential to its fullest: few have tried to stimulate discussions among their supporters on Facebook’s discussion boards. This underscores a major weakness of online networks as an election tool: while it takes only seconds to join a group, it is unclear how many of these members actually come back again and bother to read the wall as is it updated. Wannabe student leaders must find better ways to keep the voters tuned in. Plus ça change, non?
