Candidates run unopposed

By Todd Fuller

The election this spring is going to be uncontested, but Missouri Western’s Student Government Association says that doesn’t mean the student body should fail to vote.

Western doesn’t have a history of uncontested elections for SGA. According to Administrative Coordinator for the Vice President of Student Affairs Kathy Kelly, there has been only one uncontested election for SGA: the spring 2003 election with Sylvester Brandon and John Fabsits ran uncontested for the top office.

SGA election commissioner Josh Rieken thinks that marketing for the election is going to be more difficult than a contested election.

“If it [the election] was contested, then the candidates would have to make posters and talk to people to try to get votes,” Rieken said. “So, I think, the biggest thing we are missing out on this election is the marketing that would have been done by the candidates.”

“I think the most detrimental aspect of having an uncontested election is the fact that students don’t have a choice of who will be their next SGA President,” Rieken said. “An uncontested election basically takes democracy out of the process.”

Rieken thinks that too many students don’t appreciate how fun student government can be. “They just hear the word ‘government’ and assume it will be boring, but it’s not. It’s actually a lot of fun.”

SGA presidential candidate Dillon Harp feels that with the uncontested election, students miss out on a lot of the democratic process like the candidates debating. Harp also thinks that SGA suffers, with the lack of attention paid to the election, when it is uncontested.

Harp doesn’t think it’s a lack of student desire to participate.

“I just think SGA hasn’t really done anything to excite the students,” Harp said.

Harp doesn’t think the interest will be there until SGA changes students’ minds about student government. Until that change occurs Harp said, “I don’t think anyone is really going to run for anything.”

Jordan Carney, a sophomore double majoring in biology with a health-science concentration and biotechnology, is the uncontested candidate for the SGA vice president for the Residence Council.

Carney plans to take a more active role by working with the programming and planning committee to set up events that students will excite students and promote more involvement.

“It’s disappointing that not a lot of people are interested in being leaders,” Carney said. “It seems like the ones that want to be involved can’t devote the time to being in a leadership position.”

Carney also said that many of the resident assistants that would be interested don’t have the time with their current positions.

Besides voting on candidates, the previously reported SGA Technology and Recycling fee has gone on a weight loss program. SGA president Josh Todd said the fee was trimmed down to $4.50 per credit hour because the $3.00 discretionary fund was not well enough defined.

“We did not just want to throw it in some budget if we could not even strictly define its purpose,” Todd said.