SGA elections have a tendency to divide people on campus. For non-Greek students, or anyone who doesn't have some kind of organizational or personal investment in the elections, the whole process is an annoyance. Greek students appear to be on the other end of the spectrum - with their gaudy t-shirts and loud antics on the concourse.
We want to take this opportunity to explore this division, a split that even permeates the Plainsman staff.
Most of us just spend these few weeks in February trying to ignore the campaigners the best we can and go about our business. When we do complain, it's usually just a snide comment on Facebook or Twitter or a spiteful word to our friends. We see the SGA elections as an event by Greeks for Greeks.
But, as we have been told by our Greek staff members, Greek dominance of the SGA is just an unintended consequence.
Anyone who puts the time and effort into working up the political structure of the SGA can run for office. Freshman are encouraged to participate in Tiger Tuesdays, now called Freshman Leadership Programs. However, the majority of the candidates are still Greek.
Is it a lack of interest or something bigger? We think it's both.
Greek students have a ready-made campaign at their fingertips. They can usually rely on their fraternity or sorority kin to stand on the concourse and accost passers-by or donate some money.
Non-Greek students have to operate on more of a grass-roots level, working harder to drum up support among their small group of friends and hoping for enough monetary donations to buy some shirts and posters.
It's like a bipartisan election except one of the parties is relatively unknown and has a severe lack of resources.
We want to encourage non-Greek students to become active in the SGA, but we understand why they wouldn't want to. Going up against the Greek system is a tall order, especially when you consider how exclusive they are. Yet, we think for the SGA to truly represent the Auburn student body, the Greek dominance, whether it's intentional or not, needs to be broken up.
So much more could be achieved if the SGA fought for us instead of half-heartedly placing a few amenities around campus.
A unified body speaking for the legitimate concerns of students would be a powerful force for change. Imagine organizing a protest for food that doesn't empty our bank accounts or a protest for lower tuition on Jay Gouge's lawn. These are extreme examples, but some of the problems at Auburn are that bad.
Right now, what the SGA is promising and what they are delivering is not what we need, which may be a symptom of the Greek control. The only logical solution would be to take their power away, and the best way to that is bring in some non-Greek candidates.
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