ASB elections approach fast while student voter turnout remains low

It doesn’t take much observation on campus to notice that American River College students have many opinions. It also seems they have no problem sharing them. So why do they refuse, by and large, to make their voices heard where it could make a difference?

The Associated Student Body Student Senate currently has not disclosed the number of people running for office in the upcoming elections (yes, there are upcoming elections). Last April, every candidate ran unopposed. And that’s not the only sign of student apathy.

The March in March had only 43 ARC students show up. The audiences of ASB Senate meetings are empty. Positions remain vacant for long periods of time. Committees are searching for members. But karaoke always seems to have someone willing to sing at club day (yes, that’s ASB CAEB that coordinates the event).

So why are we willing to sing in public but not participate in making the decisions?

Is it lack of interest? After all, the last special election had only 549 votes in the entire Los Rios Community College District, and the turn out for last year’s election was weak to say the least.

Is it lack of communication? Many students that The Current has talked to have not even realized we have a Student Senate. As we have pointed out before, there doesn’t seem to be much information to find if you are looking through most of the bulletin boards around campus.

We shudder to think it may be the lack of knowledge of what these folks do for the campus. We hope our ASB Notebook has helped with that, but we can only tell you so much when things, like by-laws, sit on the agenda for the entire semester.

Campus politics, to some, can seem like watching C-Span at moments. That is until you end up chanting on a bus on your way to protest at the capital, or until you lobby local legislators and see changes made due to your suggestions.

The students of ARC are the ones who pay for ASB. You’d think they would want to know where that money goes. They also don’t want to pay what they don’t have to. Well, guess what? That is part of what ASB tries to help with by advocating for students.

Experiences, like college, are only what you make of them. Instead of going on Facebook and complaining about your school, fix it. Make a difference. Change things. Participate.