A common theme at sports games is to get inside the heads of the opponent. These days, it seems, the best chirps are politically based. “***** IS VOTING FOR DONALD TRUMP!” The horror of this action is so grandiose; it’s equated with humiliation and mockery. While Trump controls many of the news headlines these days, there is a fresh wave of candidates running more locally (and probably more professionally).
The Student Government Association (SGA) at Colgate is a collaborative group of student representatives from each graduating class, whose aim is to represent the Colgate community’s larger interests. Each year students run against each other to secure the role of President and Vice President, and begin to implement varying ideas and actions from their political platforms. Campaigning this year is supreme regarding creativity and accessibility. Posters line the walls of academic buildings. Bed sheets with candidate’s names splayed across them hang from windows downtown. By the end of the day if you don’t know the four candidates running in the election for the 2016-2017 school year, you should probably look in the mirror and ask yourself: am I really a Colgate student?
For this upcoming election, tensions are high. Qualifications and rivalries are unprecedented. Matt Swain and Iris King will be running against Daniel Berry and Natalie Pudalov. Both sides focus on altering issues involving student life in general, as well as academic life, athletics, and government activities. The Swain/King platform revolves around the heightened social discourse that has been prevalent on campus recently. They want to address issues that make campus appear disconnected. They seek to change the current CORE Curriculum and allow students to look at varying cultures and perspectives, beyond the few we have now. Another issues at the forefront of their proposal is improving library hours and parking accessibility up the hill (especially during the terrible hell that is finals week). They also want to change a lot regarding tailgating for sporting events and the way our academic quads are organized and allocated. They want unity. They want a community. And they want change.
In the other corner of the ring is the Berry/Pudalov platform. They are looking to implement a textbook scanner to reduce the overall expense of books students pay every year. They want to improve and prioritize mental health initiatives on campus as well, in order to make the campus a safe, virtually stress-free environment for all. In terms of community life, the Berry/Pudalov platform is proposing outdoor Volleyball/Badminton Nets/Jumbo Chess on the quad in order to create a more communal environment around campus. They want unity. They want a community. And they want change.
Every platform in any election has its selling point. Every candidate has his/her individual strengths and weaknesses. Every player trying to beat out his opponent to win it all at the end of the day. Colgate has stood the test of time in terms of admitting educated, driven students who are never satisfied with the status quo. The annual SGA elections bring about these students who dream of perfection—those who want the best for every person he/she walks by on the quad or runs into at the Coop. While the teams of Swain/King and Berry/Pudalov are fighting tooth and nail for your vote, keep in mind that at the end of the day both parties are working to better our lives on campus. They both want to help us. They both want to unify us, and make us a closer campus and community. They both want change.