Re: ASFA candidates look like beauty pageant contestants.

First off, I personally know both these candidates. Yes they are quite good looking, but should that be a crime? Almost every candidate in Concordia election history has basically the same plan when making posters: put a picture of themselves (in case people may recognize their face from class or something), and a few campaign points. Everyone does it. Why blow up on these people just because they are good looking? If they were ugly, and had the exact same posters, with the same size photo etc, would they be criticized? I doubt it. Perhaps you have not ventured into the JMSB building, but most of their candidates have only TWO “promises.” Campaign posters should not be about communicating all your plans and such if elected. That’s what debates, open forums, and the like are for. In fact, all ASFA candidates are required to write “executive summaries” that are available to anyone interested in reading them, both on the ASFA website as well as at the various polling booths. Voter turnout has always been a problem in student politics, and visual posters like these are one way to get student’s attention. For the ones more interested in the intricacies of the election, all they would have to do to find out more about the candidates is read the executive summaries, a fact mentioned in another article in this week’s issue of the Concordian, written by Evan LePage.

I understand this is an opinions piece and the writer is entitled to say whatever she wants, but that does not make it right. The writer goes on to criticize the candidates saying “none of [the ideas] appear to be particularly innovative or realistic.” Yes, maybe to the writer. Among the candidates’ goals are fighting tuition hikes, financial transparency, more electives at Loyola, leadership seminars, winter frosh, internship programs, and many more that are both potentially attainable and quite desirable. Sure, ASFA may not have all the power to actually do these things, but electing candidates that are motivated to try is something we should all want to do.

If the writer is going to criticize the electoral process, then go ahead and do that. But don’t throw out likely false accusations, and criticize students for doing what virtually every candidate in Concordia electoral history has done. That being said, I encourage all ASFA students to do the required research before choosing a candidate, and to do their best to get out the word about the election, so we could finally reverse the trend of low voter turnout that has plagued us for so long.

Jamie Gewurz
Former Concordian sports editor

2 comments

  1. Agreed completely. I think the whole debate over this article could be neatly summed up by your second paragraph solely. Kudos.

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