Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Opinion
Less 'Sex and Violence' isn't funny
Moving Gregory Karber's weekly column to a biweekly basis is like punching a baby every Friday. It's not funny, and it makes me feel bad.
Sincerely,
Adam Barito
Junior
Mechanical engineering/physics
UA students deserve transparent, intellectual ASG elections
First of all, I think that is was rather repugnant for Dayna Wolek to request the censure of an opinion column; it's an opinion column, and Adam stated his opinion.
Now there is the issue of the Associated Student Government election process. I would venture to say that a large portion of the voting population already knows who is running for office, and if that were not true, then how did Adam figure it out?
Basically, the relatively small percentage of students who vote consistently already know who is running and have already made up their minds.
This brings up an interesting question: does the ASG care about the majority of the students?
Running a short, weeklong campaign that only gives candidates enough time to hand out doughnuts and make Facebook groups that only their supporters will join cuts out the majority of the student population.
This gives the average voter who has not already made up his mind the grand option of voting for whomever gave him the last doughnut; the current election process allows for just enough time for students to figure out when election day is.
This means that those voters who are more likely to know details about the election are the candidates' friends and acquaintances.
This makes the election seem more like a popularity contest than a contest of issues.
I think that the student body should not only know when the election is (thank you, Dayna Wolek, for adding that information in your letter) but also should know who the candidates are; this could be done in a variety of ways.
There is nothing wrong with containing actual campaigning to one week, but I don't see the harm in a town hall debate or two along with perhaps a self-written article from each candidate a few weeks before the election.
I would like to challenge the ASG to make the upcoming election process as transparent and intellectual as possible; also, as a voter, I will say right now that I want the voting process amended so that it better caters to the student.
Sam Hall
Senior
Political science
Letters to the editor may be sent to traveler@uark.edu or by following the link on the left of this page.
Moving Gregory Karber's weekly column to a biweekly basis is like punching a baby every Friday. It's not funny, and it makes me feel bad.
Sincerely,
Adam Barito
Junior
Mechanical engineering/physics
UA students deserve transparent, intellectual ASG elections
First of all, I think that is was rather repugnant for Dayna Wolek to request the censure of an opinion column; it's an opinion column, and Adam stated his opinion.
Now there is the issue of the Associated Student Government election process. I would venture to say that a large portion of the voting population already knows who is running for office, and if that were not true, then how did Adam figure it out?
Basically, the relatively small percentage of students who vote consistently already know who is running and have already made up their minds.
This brings up an interesting question: does the ASG care about the majority of the students?
Running a short, weeklong campaign that only gives candidates enough time to hand out doughnuts and make Facebook groups that only their supporters will join cuts out the majority of the student population.
This gives the average voter who has not already made up his mind the grand option of voting for whomever gave him the last doughnut; the current election process allows for just enough time for students to figure out when election day is.
This means that those voters who are more likely to know details about the election are the candidates' friends and acquaintances.
This makes the election seem more like a popularity contest than a contest of issues.
I think that the student body should not only know when the election is (thank you, Dayna Wolek, for adding that information in your letter) but also should know who the candidates are; this could be done in a variety of ways.
There is nothing wrong with containing actual campaigning to one week, but I don't see the harm in a town hall debate or two along with perhaps a self-written article from each candidate a few weeks before the election.
I would like to challenge the ASG to make the upcoming election process as transparent and intellectual as possible; also, as a voter, I will say right now that I want the voting process amended so that it better caters to the student.
Sam Hall
Senior
Political science
Letters to the editor may be sent to traveler@uark.edu or by following the link on the left of this page.
Be the first to comment on this story