While many students are still feeling a certain post-spring break sleepiness (or pre-graduation senioritis), we at The Voice have been hard at work bringing you this most recent issue of the paper. It’s always interesting reading the articles writers or contributors submit because, in a way, it gives us a glimpse into what students at-large are thinking about and what is important to those in our community. After reading through this issue, we hope you are left considering the common theme that seems to tie a number of these articles together: Democracy– how well it functions (or doesn’t), and the ways in which it can improve.
In this, our second to last issue of the year, we have fantastic articles from staff writers, frequent contributors, and several new names. The Voice is proud to represent a plethora of opinions and perspectives from students here at Conn, and this diversity in thought can be seen in Fiona Hull’s ’21 profile of resident scholar Bina Nepram, Emir Kulluk’s ’21 analysis of the nation-wide college bribery scandal, and the CCRCC statement on the value of the Electoral College. First time writer and longtime reader of The Voice, Joshua Coleman ‘21, an international student from Northern Ireland, has also penned a brief yet brilliant Brexit guide for us in the wake of the European Union’s decision to delay Britain’s exit from the EU until October.
While our writers, and Conn students in general, tend to focus on debates going on in Congress or on the campaign trail, it would be inappropriate and ill-advised to focus all of one’s energy on national politics. To concentrate our attention there takes vital attention away from local issues and developments. As Andrew Lopez pointed out in our previous issue, Conn students– and, by extension, young people at-large– have much more political power than they think.
Outside of city/state/national politics, people our age seem to forget about– if not actively avoid– political participation on even the most micro of levels, such as Conn’s Student Government Association (SGA). This past week the campus was painted red with student campaign posters for a variety of Executive Board positions, most visibly for the position of Honor Council Chair. The winners of the elections were shared with the campus community via an email from SGA on Sunday night, but the full list of competitors– including student vote tallies and percentages– were not. While some people may be insecure about receiving low vote counts, it is fundamental that students see these numbers, either to gawk at the impressive margins of success or to feel an energized solidarity about high turnout rates or to reflect on the reasons in which certain positions received high rates (up to 28% in one case) of votes for “abstain.”
Both globally and locally, it seems democracy and democratic systems are being threatened or dismantled by strongmen or public apathy or both. I’m proud of the work done by those who submitted articles for this issue of The Voice, because, clearly, they are not part of the majority. And they sure as hell aren’t silent.
