Student elections are just over two weeks away, and Rules and Elections Committee members are beginning to worry about the extreme lack of students that have filed papers so far. At present, there are only two Grand Marshal candidates registered along with one for President of the Union, and the numbers for Senate are far from what is necessary to fill the Senate, making Grand Marshal the only position with a contest.
“It’s important for us to have active student government elections so that we can have a real debate on the issues facing the Union and the student body as a whole,” said RNE Chairman Matt Ezovski. He has held that appointed position since his Senate confirmation last spring, and will end his term after the upcoming elections.
Asked to theorize on the cause of the dearth of candidates this year, Ezovski attributed it to the compressed elections period due to an unusually early Easter and Passover. As a result of the early holidays, there are only two weeks between spring break and the start of GM week.
Ezovski pointed out that there are a large number of people registered with campus political parties who have not yet registered as candidates yet, and thus he expects a large number of these students to file papers for candidacy within the next few days. However, even if these students register, he said that the numbers will still be below where he would like them to be.
“It’s definitely behind track” compared to last year, Ezovski said of the figures. At this time last year, there was already a three-way race for President of the Union between Eric Griffith, Mike Augello, and Susanne Peluso, who won the election, and in 2002, there were four PU candidates. In both years, two campaigned for GM.
One shocking statistic, he did say, is that two graduate students have already filed papers for positions on the Senate. The Union Constitution calls for six graduate students to sit with the body, and these are perennially the most difficult to fill.
RNE has been doing its best to advertise the upcoming elections, Ezovski said, between advertisements on RPI TV, signs around campus, table tents in the Union and dining halls, a link on RPInfo, and holding candidate information sessions. But students have not been responding, he said, noting that three sessions have only attracted 11 students total. He suggests that everyone interested in running for office attend at least one session, even if they have been to the meetings before. “There is new information available every year,” he said. The next information session will be held Thursday night at 9 pm in Union 2424, and the last one will be next Wednesday at 9:30 pm in Union 3602.
The RNE rules that restrict early campaigning were lifted yesterday, and the committee hopes that they will see a larger response to elections now that candidates are allowed to post signs around campus. In addition, nomination forms were made available beginning yesterday, which may also add to the numbers of people registered.
At present, debates are being arranged for Grand Marshal for Wednesday, March 31, from 3 to 5 pm in DCC 308. If other students file for President of the Union, debates will also be held for that position. This year, for the first time, the debates will be broadcast live on RPI TV and WRPI.
