What’s Important
With the general elections to determine the leadership for your SMU Student Body and Student Senate occurring today, I want to challenge each and every one of you not only to vote, but also to spread the word and get others to vote.
In addition to electing leaders to serve the student body, a referendum will also be appearing on the ballot. This referendum is dealing with the Special Interest seats within Student Senate. Currently, the Student Senate is structured in such a way that you as students are represented through the school of your declared major. In addition, there are four Special Interest seats; with one representing the African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American and International Communities. As of now, you must be a member of those communities to both run and vote for each of the seats. The proposed change on the ballot would allow any student to run for these seats, however, only the communities stated above would be eligible to vote for these seats. The hope behind this is to broaden the opportunities for Students to get involved, but also remembering the importance of having each of these communities determine who represents them.
What you see on the ballot today is a result of the Student Senate Membership Task Force, which was put together in the early months of the school year and spent the first semester researching other schools and interviewing various student groups. Lyndsey Hummert and her committee put in countless hours, and I would like to thank everyone involved in the process for your contribution to making this University a better place. The purpose of this task force was to evaluate our current membership structure and determine which structure was best in representing the entire SMU Student Body.
Since the proposal has been passed through Senate, there has been much debate and many voices heard. I would like to commend and thank everyone who has spoken up on this issue. The most important thing in this election, like all elections, is the free, open and complete participation of our community. The real tension brought to the surface by this proposal is not a bad thing, because SMU students are not afraid of disagreeing or having debates on the topics affecting our lives. In fact, I know we cherish any opportunity to learn from one another.
As an SMU family, everyone may not always see eye to eye, but we are all committed to one another’s right for the free expression of ideas and the privilege to vote our conscience. These are the principles that unite us, these are the principles we will undoubtedly be left with no matter which way the vote goes and these are the principles we ought to constantly continue to focus on. In this unique time to have your voice heard through a vote, I encourage you to log on to www.smu.edu/elections and take advantage of the opportunity to be heard!
Remember why each of us came to SMU, and, in doing so, remember what’s important in this election. No matter what your position in any of the contests, if you ended this election period without having learned about someone different from yourself, then you have missed out on a tremendous opportunity.
We also should remember that we came to SMU to come together as part of a single, unified Mustang family. Ultimately, we ought to combine these two important goals and learn how to come together in unity.
