I wrote this essay 2 years ago, at the start of my 5th pharmacy year at LAU. After the ridiculous results of the USJ student body elections, clearly illustrated by Rami at +961, I wanted to share it on my new blog. It’s all still relevant today, and the yearly cycle of college campus bullshit never ceases to amaze me.
State Politics In University Elections. Is This a Good Idea?
Approaching the year-end, its election time at universities in Lebanon. Every year around this time, politics enters the student arena like a circus comes to town, or like a virus enters the human body (depending on which way you look at it I suppose). On any circumstance, this is a reality that universities have to deal with; a true display of democratic campaigning comes alive in a plethora of multi colored stands, t-shirts, and pamphlets circulating amid enthusiastic chanting and music. Democracy at its finest, as some would say.
Students cast their votes, and then the waiting game begins as the ballots are counted, and the party slowly escalates leading up to an orgasmic eruption of festivities once the final results are in. Sounds like fun huh?
Well it’s loads of fun… But the festivities eventually die down. The coming day or two show an extrapolation of University election results into statistical achievement of political parties around the country, and mainstream newspapers publish stories about their favorites’ victories. The country amuses itself for a few days with the results of the “intellectual” vote. It’s marvelous…All the smart people in the country have chosen who they want to represent them in Lebanese society, rendering one political sect more superior (more legitimate? Cooler? ) than another political sect. Orange becomes the new blue… fuscia becomes the new magenta…
It all seems to work out well for the country, for the state lacks anything that resembles a clean democratic operation. BUT…can anyone really feel a sense of closure when the elections end? Seriously now, have we done our academic institution, the same one that evoked our democratic discipline in the first place, the justice it deserves?
Why are there university elections in the first place? The student body elects its representatives for a reason other than the creation an overrated statistic for the country. We elect our representatives as a way to directly communicate our needs to the academic institution, in order to better our institution, as well as to improve our academic lives throughout our college or university years. These ideals, although always present in some form or another, seem to be overshadowed by political rhetoric and slogans. So much so that students forget their roles as students, and their political activism and emotions take on a form so large that they seem to forget their institutional responsibilities to begin with.
But who cares??? The country needs the “intellectual vote”! This will always be a priority more important than any institutional needs… If we seriously represent the intellectual class of the Lebanese populace, then why do we so much mimic Lebanon’s political atmosphere, when we ALL know, and I stress on ALL, that it is a decadent system which has obviously failed its people? Why must we allow such a system to inevitably break our universities, by allowing a biased choice of candidates as student representatives?
Biased … Candidates in university elections are almost never voted for according to their own individual ideals and ideas for institutional improvement. The majority of candidates are voted for because they are backed by the various student political groups. This therefore creates a bias, because most votes are cast for purely political reasons, rather than there being a more realistic determinant of a student’s choice of representative. More realistic, individual determinants include a candidate’s leadership qualities, public relations, and more importantly, true enthusiasm for contribution to the institution. Heaven forbid we elect our representatives for their qualifications rather than their politics!
Thus, there is no doubt whatsoever that more importance is given to the election itself rather than the elected. However, and to put things a little bit in perspective, those elected are not always unfit for the job. On the contrary, some of those elected are very qualified for the job, and are motivated to do good work as well. Also, many politically active students and their student party leaders can be some of the most intelligent, and no doubt most enthusiastic and well spoken students on campus. Still… It’s not about being smart or stupid at the end, it’s about where your priorities lie. Most answer to that by saying “My priority is my country!”. Well that’s fine and all, but there are more realistic goals to aspire to… Maybe the institution for a change? Let us not forget why we have an election in the first place.
To put things in perspective again… University policy, and improvement of the academic institutions are, in fact, included in the campaign agendas of certain political groups. I mean, they have to be there right, so that the elections are at least semi-believable in the end… What’s an election without campaign promises? What is disappointing however is that they are never prioritized… and are most of the time completely forgotten 2 minutes after a side emerges victorious.
Still… We do see a lot of initiative from political groups. The most organized student groups are those affiliated with political parties. The most enthusiastic as well… Important issues like financial aid and tuition have in the past been tackled by the various political groups. That’s just great, HOWEVER… Would an initiative to decrease tuition be taken more seriously from a political party, whose political aspirations originally outweighed any institutional goals? Or from a student group originally created to handle such a thing? In addition to this, any initiative that spurs from a political group, however marvelously beneficial it may be, will most probably be ignored by their opponents, mainly out of spite, thus weakening the initiative altogether.
Where have all the independents gone?? There has been a recession of independent university parties over the past few years (need we explain why?). Also, so called “independent” students are always most definitely affiliated with a political alliance, so much so that the term “independent” means almost nothing anymore, and political parties use it as an act of subterfuge, in order to attract the neutral vote.
It’s just sad. This country should be a reflection of its proud academic institutions, not the opposite.
Beirut Apothecary 