Oregon State GDI Angry That Greeks Run Student Government, Calls It “an abortion of democracy”

Rob Fox13 years ago

I’m not going to sit here and act like I give a shit who’s promising more pizza for Oregon State’s dining halls running the student government at Oregon State. I don’t. Still, this article is pretty annoying, because it’s basically just complaining that the OSU Greeks are better at organizing themselves and that they choose to vote in the elections. Apparently that’s the fault of Greeks, who are in the wrong for actually participating. Meanwhile, the GDIs who neglect to vote are being victimized by their own choices, and apparently the Oregon State community must ask themselves, WHO WILL HELP THOSE WHO ACTIVELY CHOOSE NOT TO HELP THEMSELVES!?!?!

A month ago, I’d never even heard of Brett Deedon and Victoria Redman. Worse than their obscurity was their anonymity. I didn’t know their platform, their views on tuition and the First Year Experience, or even their first names.

You had never heard of the eventual winning candidates, yet you write about the election and the student government (called the Associated Students of Oregon State University)? It kind of just sounds like you suck at your job. Apparently, other people knew who Deedon (a Sig Ep) and Redman (a Theta) were, since they, you know, won the election.

You could argue that they’re just better at organizing their constituents — but that’s the point. The entire student body is their constituency. By relying on Greeks to assure their victory, Deedon and Redman have announced where their interests lie and highlighted the fact that ASOSU is no longer a student government, but rather annexed to the Greek system.

You could argue that they’re better at organizing their constituents because they are, in fact, better at organizing their constituents. Their bad for outworking their opponents and/or utilizing their resources? Sucks that whoever was running against them didn’t work their asses off to get more people to vote. That seems like it would have been a viable strategy, if the rest of the campus is indeed as fed up with the status quo as the column’s author. It sort of reminds me of this:

No one is taking advantage of any loophole or doing anything shady regrading the elections. They’re just winning. You want to win? Do better. Get on the Greek community’s level. I suppose this article is a start in at least pointing out the imbalance, but don’t blame the winners, because as the author admits, they didn’t cheat. Blame the people whose inaction apparently allowed them to win.

Or not. It’s just student government, it’s not that big of a deal.

[via The Daily Barometer]

Image via http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/