SA election demands widespread vote

By Timothy Faust     2/19/09 6:00pm

Quick! Think of what makes you ecstatic.Not "happy." I don't want simple contentedness. I don't give a shit about warm bagels or chocolate or your iPod or how you feel when you make eye contact with that cutie in GenChem. I want ecstasy - a sensation so powerful, so moving, that it compels you to clench your toes so hard you can feel it in your soul. Think about bliss: What have you done recently that filled you so wholly with raw delight that you wanted to freeze time and space and never move again lest the slightest disturbance in the universe break that rapturous moment?

I can't guess when the last time anything of the sort happened to you, but I can tell you when it'll happen to you next: the minute you log in to http://sa.rice.edu and cast your vote in the 2009 General Election. You will know ecstasy the second you click "submit."

Why vote? I'll tell you why. This year, voters will decide two things: the people who represent you and the amount of money you pay to the university.

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A lot of folks don't give a damn about the Student Association. That's fine. In fact, students in decades past have organized several referenda attempting to disband the entire organization. Past candidates for SA President have run on platforms of removing any authority from the senate's Monday meetings. Your feelings are not new.

But, o ye nonbelievers, heed this: For whatever reason, the people who actually make Decisions - I mean Decisions, with a capital D and millions of dollars behind them - about this university have regularly invested a significant amount of credence in the SA's opinions and the efforts of its president. To the suits, the SA is often the single authoritative representative voice of all undergraduates. If they take it so seriously, shouldn't we as well?

A good start is the Thresher election feature in this issue. If that's not enough for you, watch the SA Presidential Debate. This past Monday, the four candidates for SA President (Brown College junior Patrick McAnaney, Martel College sophomore Nicholas Muscara, Martel senior Alexander Crompton and Jones College junior Matthew Weingast) debated each other before a full Farnsworth Pavilion. RTV5 filmed their hour-long discussion, and you can view it online at http://rtv5.rice.edu.Check it out.

And then there's the matter of amendments. The Thresher has done a pretty good job of covering what's going on with the blanket tax proposals, so I won't analyze them here. But there's a lot of 'em: the SA has moved to strike University Blue's $1 blanket tax, The Rice Review is asking for $1 to fill UBlue's role, Rice Program Council is trying to increase the scale of its events, KTRU wants a tax increase and Open magazine, a new face on the Rice circuit, seeks some sort of permanence. The Honor Council, for the second year in a row, wants to amend Article XII of the Honor Council Constitution (see "Article XII of Honor Code does more harm than help," Feb. 13). Should all of these amendments pass? Will any of these amendments pass? That's your choice. Read their advertisements, join their Facebook groups, figure out how you feel and vote like you mean it.

This is where I come in. As director of elections, my job is to make voting as accessible as possible for you. Voting began today and ends next Wednesday at noon. You can vote online whenever you please. Next Monday and Tuesday, the Elections Committee will put voting booths in the colleges during meal times, a booth in the Rice Memorial Center during the day and maybe even near Pub on Tuesday night. I can guarantee you this: You will not be able to escape the opportunity to vote. If you actively choose to not vote, the spectre of the 2009 General Election will haunt you like those dudes in Kafka's The Trial hunted tortured protagonist Josef K.

What's that? Is the ecstatic, orgiastic delight of voting not enough for you? How about a sticker? The Elections Committee has obtained 3,000 "I Voted!" stickers - enough for every man, woman and child in the average farm town in the Upper Midwest. Vote and we'll give you one for free! You can feel like a champion all day long.

I would also like to remind you to not forget the power of the write-in vote. Make the candidates work for your vote! If you're not satisfied with the options on the ballot, make up your own. If they're funny, I'll put 'em on the Backpage. And since the SA operates under preferential voting, you can vote for write-in as your first choice and a "real" candidate as your second choice without messing up the election process too severely! Use this power responsibly and awesomely.

While you're at it, please vote the Backpage for Thresher editor in chief. Can you imagine an entire 20- to 24-page paper full of dick jokes and thinly veiled personal jabs every single week? That's true ecstasy.

Timothy Faust is a Brown College senior, Backpage editor and SA director of elections.

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