Cardinal Points

Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Kelli Catana

Plattsburgh State students won't vote to elect new Student Association representatives until Tuesday, but we can already tell you who the next president will be. That's Angel Acosta. The vice president for academics, too. His name is John Christman. How about the vice president for organizations? Sean Cline.

The list, in fact, goes on. Six candidates for executive branch positions are unopposed (there are only nine positions).

It's the same story with the judicial branch. We can tell you who will be the chief justice of the court of appeals: No one. Not one of PSUC's roughly 6,000 students wanted to run for the position. There are also four associate justice positions open. Andrew Krug is the only candidate.

And in the legislative branch? There are 15 senator positions and only 21 candidates. That, too, gives voters few options.

PSUC students don't have a problem with voter apathy - we have a far worse problem. Students are so turned-off by politics and government, we can't find people to represent us.

It's quite sad, actually. Students have an amazing opportunity to run for elected office. Why only one person would want to be president of the Student Association is a dumb-founding question. All Mr. Acosta had to do was declare his candidacy.

Now it's almost certain: he will take the reins of an organization with a nearly $800,000 budget.

The SA funds dozens of clubs, vacations buses, a student shuttle, late night events, fridge storage, Sunday night movies, intramural sports, art galleries, ski trips, Springfest, a block subscription to Cardinal Points and a long list of other activities and services.

Members have the opportunity to represent student opinion to school administrators. Being an elected member of the SA is by all means an important and powerful position to be in.

We had hoped this year to sit down with the candidates for the presidency, hear their plans and then endorse someone. We did it two years ago when we endorsed the reelection campaign of Michael Cashman, who served us well in his two terms as president.

But we can't do that this year, as voters are left with no choice in who the next president will be.

Perhaps the current SA could have done a better job promoting the open positions, though that isn't necessarily its responsibility. People aside from us should be concerned about this, though. Students should be upset that they have no choice in who represents them.

So here is our call: Students, get involved. Run for office. Take some responsibility. Do it for your own self-interested purposes (it looks good to have an elected office on a resume). Next year, let's have half a dozen candidates for the presidency.

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