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don't take this the wrong way...
 

But it BLOWZ MY MIND that student politics is such a big deal at some places that people would even think of going to these extremes.

Re: don't take this the wrong way...
 

Some student governments are more visible than others. If your group dominates one it can be very good for recruitment. Especially if you can advertise a monopoly on leadership positions. Unfortunately, the student body will typically allow this by not showing up to vote or not staying informed.

how could they know anyway?
 

I mean, do you get a receipt if you vote? How could anyone fine you for something they cannot prove you did or not.

At my school they did it by student ID. I'm sure there are ways to find out if a person voted or not.

How they enforce it really doesn't seem to be the issue -- the issue is that they actually have a bylaw requiring people to vote. This doesn't seem very Democratic. I realize that sororities aren't always the most egalitarian places, but what happend to being a free-thinking person?

Besides, fines should be reserved for requirements, such as for not taking out the garbage, or failing to show up for phone duty. Voting is a choice, not a requirement.

When I was at Ole Miss, our IDs were used to denote that tickets to sporting events were gotten, etc. Each event was assigned a number, so that number was scratched off your ID if you participated. I assume that IDs are still used in this way.

The way they check here to make sure you don't vote twice is to put on some sort of UV dye on your thumbnail...all you need to in order to tell is someone has voted is a black light which will cause their thumbnail to glow. The dye they use usually doesn't completely wash off for about 2 days.

According the NPC, an activity or requirement is hazing only if it is "for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a chapter or colony of an NPC member fraternity." In other words, being forced to vote is only hazing if your membership in the sorority is conditioned on your voting as required.

I think getting members involved in campus activties is a great and needed, heck we get more personal points for being members of student orgs and such but forcing people to vote for a certain candidiate in an activity is a bit much. This whole drama baffles me....the things people do to win...or make sure others don't win!

I know somewhere there is a thread on my next comment... but... on many campuses the ASB is paid. At some schools it is the whole executive body and at other schools only the President and VP...

Payment ranges from parking space, tution, monthly stipend... none or all of the above. I think at one school, the student body president is paid close to $20,000 a year.

If you are at certain schools (at least in the south) it can really bolt you into the state government (if that is what you are interested in). The outgoing ASB President at Ole Miss is spending the summer in DC working on the hill. I can not speak about any other state, being on the ASB at Ole Miss and MSU can help you on the fast track in MS politics, with such a large alumni support thru-out the state.

Very true...at Nebraska the ASUN (Association of Students at the University of Nebraska) President gets football tickets in the luxury boxes for free. They also sit in on and can do everything but vote at the Board of Regents meetings, which is still a considerable amount of power. I also think that there is some sort of scholarship that pays for tuition as well. Wouldn't be surprised.

On top of that, if they say something funny it makes the Daily Nebraskan like the time that our outgoing ASUN Prez. wrote a letter to the editor saying that he "could have eaten a bowl of alphabits and crapped out a better column" than one of the opinion columnists!

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the infamous "Machine" at the U of Alabama. Most of our state politicians came from membership in machine fraternities. Because of the influence of this group, the SGA there was disbanded from 1993-1997. The Machine controls just about every office in student government, and its influence is felt in a large number of elections all over the state. Machine-affiliated sororities and fraternities generally require their members to vote, and although it isn't spoken about now as much as it was a while back, there can be repercussions for members who don't vote or who vote for the wrong candidate. The administration has taken steps in the past few years to insure the secrecy of voting, but there is little that can be done about the influence of the Machine over election results.

Wow Bama_Alumna, that's really interesting. I have never heard about that and I find that all very interesting.

Kinda makes you wonder about stuff!

<!--insert eerie, mysterious music here-->

It's a real bummer that things like that really happen.

Here is a recent article about last year's SGA elections from the CW (UA's student newspaper):

http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...b?in_archive=1

Here is another one you might find interesting:
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...f?in_archive=1

and one more:
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...3?in_archive=1

It is a strange thing, but it's nothing that the independent voters couldn't overcome if they would band together and cast their vote for independent candidates. There is a large amount of student apathy on campus... that is why the Machine gets its candidate elected (almost) every time.

That said, the Machine gets blamed for a lot of things at UA and most of that is just the independents or the administration looking for a scapegoat.

thanks for the informative links Bama_Alumna :) Interesting stuff.


It is disappointing that some of the leadership positions may have been obtained by use of systems like 'the Machine' rather than winning on merit.