The (Un)Associated Student Union
Valley Star , CA (The Los Angeles Valley College)
May 7 2005
The Associated Student Union announced the results of its election last
week, revealing that all but two of the nine winners are Armenian. Not
soon after the election, some students said that this year’s winners
benefited because students voted along ethnic lines.
This issue was also raised at last year’s ASU presidential election.
Levon Bagramian earned the most votes but was not the candidate favored
by the sitting ASU officers. Bagramian brought his own flaws to office,
part of the reason the ASU Executive Board recalled him last month,
but ASU members said he only won the election because he was Armenian.
Not a great way to start a relationship among the president and his
fellow officers.
And so what if every Armenian on campus voted for Bagramian last
year or voted for this year’s ASU officers. Maybe those accusing the
Armenians of voting along ethnic lines should take a lesson from them
on organization. In addition, many of this year’s Armenian candidates
ran unopposed. Should they be charged with finding candidates to run
against themselves?
The problems with the ASU elections are not students voting along
ethnic lines, it’s the voting process. Candidates are relatively
unknown to the 18,000 students on this campus, a fact highlighted by
the less than 500 students who voted in this year’s election.
What was missing from this campaign is a campaign. Students weren’t
given the opportunity to “know” their candidates and what they
stand for.
Where is the exposure? Where were the debates that would have not
only familiarize the students with the candidates but would also
generate enough interest among them to possibly decrease the apathy
at the polls?
Without candidate information, all that students have left to
base their opinion on is their already existing information of the
candidates. And it’s not surprising that they are more likely to know
more about the candidate of their ethnicity, being a part of the same
community and all.
But unfortunately, ASU has been so caught up in their petty arguments
that the needs of the Valley students have taken a back seat to the
internal conflicts within the ASU.
ASU should instead busy themselves with increasing the student turnout
at the polls, which would result in a more balanced ethnic voting body,
minimizing the ability of one community to dominate the election.
So if the Armenian community takes it upon themselves to go out and
vote as an organized body…more power to them. There is nothing wrong
with exercising your democratic rights, even if it doesn’t fit with
someone else’s agenda.
