The annual Monash Student Association (MSA) Elections are upon us. This process allows for the election of student representatives who will spend 2013 working to provide services for you, and negotiating with the university on your behalf. In spite of the role the MSA plays, many students are ignorant of it, and treat elections as a time to give the Campus Centre as wide a berth as possible. Whilst I believe that voting in the elections is extremely important, I understand the reasons why people may be disenchanted with and disengaged from this process.
I often question what we are really voting for in student elections. In my opinion, the ideal person to represent students should be an outstanding individual with a strong character, the ability to communicate across many audiences, and above all an ability to engage students in University life. Despite it being crucial to academic success, study is not the only, nor the most important, aspect of university life. Social interaction and inclusion should be at the heart of any university experience; students should be able to interact with other students and feel safe to explore their own personalities.
Without opportunity for social interaction, university becomes a set of lecture theatres where you turn up to class and then go home. This is a sad way to experience university life, and something that the MSA should be actively opposing through creation of social more opportunities. If we elect representatives who don’t understand this concept and aren’t advocates for openness and student engagement, we are actively shredding the social fabric that makes university such a special place.
University is a unique experience and one that students should cherish. I want everyone who has attended Monash University to have left this place with not only a degree but also a sense of pride that they have belonged.
I want to be able to tell my kids about the great time I had at university, and recommend that they choose Monash when it comes to entering tertiary education. It is because of this desire that I would ask the student body to think carefully about who you vote for in the elections. Take the time to investigate who is running, and for which positions. Look into the role of each MSA Department, and ask questions about whether that department is doing enough. It is only when we actively engage and question the role of the MSA that we can exert some effect on it, and its extended impact on university life.
In addition to problems I have with current levels of student engagement with the MSA, I find the election process hugely problematic. The election process currently used in the annual Monash Student Association (MSA) Elections is a joke. To begin with, it is possible to register a ticket under almost any name. On the surface this sounds like a great concept; I could name a ticket in such a way that it is clearly linked a set of solid values, policies and political aims which I represent. It can be reasonably expected that this would give voters a clear indication of who I am and what I stand for. However, this naming regulation also allows for the potential deception of voters. Tickets can be named in a misleading manner to attract the vote of the average student who doesn’t know much about the MSA, and can’t distinguish between tickets that are legitimate and those that are not.
I could name my ticket “One Thousand Dollars for Every Student” and prey on students who don’t understand that this ticket is only a name and doesn’t actually represent my party and its values, policies or political aspirations. I hope that students are able to distinguish between ticket names that are serious versus those that are a joke, but this is likely not always the case. That a clause allowing for the registration of misleading tickets exists negates the respectability of our elections; this needs to be restructured.
Many people involved in the MSA believe that running tickets and political campaigns is the only way to elect student representatives; often the rationale is that this is the way things have always been done, and always will be done. A little research, however, shows that these beliefs are not fully founded, as not all Student Unions (Associations) operate in this manner. The University of Sydney Student Union has a board of directors who are employed for a two year term; each year five of these positions are renewed, and the Executive of the board is elected by the board members. This is a great concept as it means that representatives are accountable for two years, and they are voted into the board individually and without a ticket.
I don’t attend the University of Sydney so I can’t say that their system is perfect, or that they do a better job of engaging students than we do here at Monash. What is clear is that there are other systems, which we could benefit from investigating.
During election week, ask questions about the election process and scrutinise the parties; ask them what they stand for. Probe the people who hand you a ticket and ask you to vote for them; consider their answers and then ask representatives from other tickets the same thing. Not all students are enrolled in the same units or even on the same campus, but we are all students of Monash University, and the decisions we make now will affect our university experience, and the legacy we leave for future students.
