I was planning to witness the students’ council elections at the U of J yesterday but I somehow managed not to attend. I did visit this week though, on Tuesday to be exact, and I had a great time as usual.

Some fellow bloggers have treated the subject already but there is always a need to stress that students are not being held responsible for their campaigns, their words, and their banners. Just when elections are at the doors the campus gets horribly adorned with thousands of flyers and poorly printed pictures of candidates, multiple-meaning slogans and numbers of self-appointed support staff roaming the streets looking for kin or friend that would vote.

It is hideous. I daresay those are the annual golden days of ugliness for the U of J. It seems as though there are no limits for trespassing over public property, and all in the name of freedom, at such times. You see names on street signs in and around campus, on doors and windows (which, of course, lose any sense of transparency thus do not function), on desks, on trees, on street ads, and on proud bosoms marketing this or that.

Is it outrageous to ask the administration of the university to impose certain rules on those running for “office”? Granted they want to promote their ideas and get in those seats (which are not precisely the most appealing), but they should take responsibility for their actions and the actions of those that support them. Why don’t they remove their promotional material after the elections? Everything remains put, as horrid as it is, until the stickers start chipping off because of the elements and some university-hired people come and remove what they can (only it is too late because some things do not go off as easy).

Should those students violate this suggested rule of removing their papers, they should be penalized. This is a serious matter, such random campaigns harm the image of the university. You will know what I mean if you walk in the pedestrian tunnel right across the main gate, try it, they even wrote on the walls in red and black - terrible calligraphy and no sense of art.

This year there was something slightly different, however. Something positive for a change. Some were on a crusade to boycott elections because, get this, the administration of the university decided to appoint 50% of the total number of the council’s members- as far as I could comprehend. How do you claim to instill democracy in the minds of the youth, and you go so far as to arrange seminars and lectures on the topic, then you take this right away from them at the same time? Does this make any sense?

Which brings me to my next point. How democratic are these elections? I for one have received several offers as a student to vote for this because “ You are from the South like me”, or that because “ I am from Karak too!”, or better yet for a girl who does not have a concept behind her because “ We girls should stick together”. It pains me to admit that most students that make it to the council are elected this way and on such criteria. What are they selling, exactly?

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at 9:30 am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.