It’s clear just by checking Facebook that ASUCD Senate campaigning has begun.
As our group invitations multiply with the promises and platform goals of hopeful candidates, we extend our encouragement to anyone – and we mean anyone – who wants to be a senator.
There are only three requirements to run for senator.
The first is to get 125 signatures on a petition requesting student support. This is an extremely easy feat. In a campus of approximately 24,000 undergraduate students, 125 signatures is a mere drop of water; meriting 125 signatures means rounding up .5 percent of the student population to sign a piece of paper. This could be accomplished before class in a small lecture hall, or perhaps during lunchtime at the Memorial Union. It’s really not that hard.
The second requirement is to not be on probation with Student Judicial Affairs. But even if you cheat on a test or steal from the ASUCD Coffee House, all you have to do is attend an informal disposition procedure to get out of probation. Essentially, don’t steal or cheat, but if you do, apologize.
The third requirement is to be in good academic standing, which generally means having a 2.0 GPA or higher. Granted this isn’t as easy as, say, getting 125 signatures on a petition, but it’s not too difficult either.
And that’s it. That’s all one has to do to be eligible to run for senate. You don’t have to run with a slate; you don’t have to be actively involved in ASUCD; you don’t even have to have any platform goals, although if you’re running for senate, presumably you should at least have a few new ideas in mind. There isn’t even an application – just a place on the petition for contact information.
We’re not complaining either. The all-inclusive nature of these elections represents a valuable trait of democracy. Anyone can make a change, and the more people who try to do so means more change will be made.
Election packets are available in room 348 of the MU and are due tomorrow in the same room. So see what it’s like to run in an election.
Even if you don’t win, you will have had the experience of a true, democratic American – in addition to some extra padding on your resume.
