Harding University Student Association Elections
This post, as implied in the title, is directed towards our readers and contributors from Harding University.
Tomorrow, Wednesday the 23rd, Harding University will have its Student Association (SA) elections. The SA is essentially the student government that represents the student body as a whole. I told a couple of people who are running for SA positions that I would “endorse” them on my blog. I want to name the two people who I have told this to and give a brief comment as to why they are good for the positions they are running for.
For SA President: Michael Crouch
All of us who write for the Political Cartel know Michael through various student organizations and as a personal friend. Michael is an intelligent, engaging, and open-minded student. Michael is a member of the Honors College, the President of the Roosevelt Institution (of which all of the P.C. authors are members), and is actively involved in other campus organizations and activities. Michael is no typical fellow, he knows how to talk to the powers of Harding that be and ways to get things done. Michael would represent the student body well and would make a good SA president. Vote for Michael Crouch on Wednesday.
For SA Vice-President: Jacob Hawk
I had the pleasure of getting to know Jacob over a trip to Dallas. He’s a well-spoken, energetic, and pragmatic person. He, like Michael, knows the ropes of the University well. He has worked as SA Secretary, so he has experience with the inner-workings of the SA process. He knows that students want change in many areas, and he has realistic goals that could bring some of the student’s desires to fruition. Jacob would make a good accomplice to Michael as V/P of the SA. Vote for Jacob Hawk on Wednesday.
I completely second your presidential endorsement, Steve. Well said. Michael is a great guy, and I am confident that he would be an effective president.
On a related note, I came across this website that was evidently created by two individuals last Fall who planned on running in this race, but evidently decided not to. The site is very impressive, and they have some fantastic ideas for the school. I would encourage everybody to go check out this list of proposals that they have on their site.
HU SA elections for me were always a microcosm of everything that sucks about the American electoral system.
Your selection of candidates was a group of men trying to out-Jesus each other, making promises about who’s going to bring the campus closer to God, etc. I.e., things that can’t be quantified or measured, and things that couldn’t be changed by anyone even if they could be measured. In other words, total non-issues.
Meanwhile, there were tons of real problems, and tremendous dissatisfaction with both University policy, and the day-to-day running of the campus. No one could address these, however. Can you imagine someone even trying to run on that kind of platform?
It isn’t quite like the American electoral system, though. In real life, the politicians famously “campaign in poetry and govern in prose,” meaning that they get down to do the real work once they are actually in office (and they are done trying to out-Jesus and out-patriotism each other). Here, there is no real governing that happens. At least, there hasn’t been in the past. The SA has just been a weakly-organized and mostly absent social organizer.
I agree with you about the “real problems, and tremendous dissatisfaction with both University policy, and the day-to-day running of the campus,” though. I wish somebody could do something about that.
Seriously, to any HU students, go read the ideas in the link from above. I wish these guys were running because it sounds like they have a firm handle on some of the real problems that can be fixed here at Harding.
It’s been observed over and over again by people across the spectrum that in countries where there is a high amount of corruption/authoritarianism and a low level of confidence in government, people generally vote for the politicians who either entertain them, or who represent them on identity/cultural issues, rather than politicians who promise substantial change.
(That sentence should have been written in German)
This theory would certainly apply to HU, where nothing, and I mean nothing happens that isn’t the will of the administration and everyone knows this within the first week they’re at school. Given this situation, who cares who is SA president? Might as well just choose someone who won’t annoy you too much when he’s speaking in chapel every few days (fat chance).
I’ve been to three universities other than HU and while (justified) apathy toward student government was present at all of them, it’s a whole new level at HU. At least in the other places the SA did have occasional victories against the administration.
Maybe you haven’t heard. Our SA got us two extra holidays for next year. We will now have Martin Luther King Day off (like every other school and government office in the country) and we will have a fall Monday that is not Labor Day off (we don’t want to go too far and become Communist or anything).
These are major upheavals that left many disgruntled faculty members who complained about how uppity the student government is getting.