Class holds mock elections

By Michael Moeschler

Results from the Nov. 5 mock elections may dictate what issues university officials address when focusing on future student interests.

With the last eight weeks of the quarter dedicated to the creation of a European political representation system, political science professor Jane Curry's political participation class presented the university community with six political parties that represented different social issues affecting students and administration.

The class sparked the interest of Dean for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger who thought that the political platforms of each party represent specific issues that the Office of Student Life and other university representatives could look into in the upcoming months.

"Part of my role in student life is to try and find out what [the issues] are and work to make those changes that make sense and that we can afford," said Rosenberger. "In this case, I would love to help."

The six political parties created by the students included the Bucky Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, the Gender Representation Party, the Old School Party, the Roots Party and the Green Party. Each platform covered a spectrum of subjects that focused on the allocation of tuition money, availability of contraceptives on-campus, local police/student relationships, food service quality and Residential Learning Community (RLC) effectiveness.

The elections were held on Nov. 5, with voting booths set up in Benson Memorial Center. Online voting within the dorms was also available. With the online voting hampered by technical difficulties, Curry likened the voting process to an "almost Florida moment."

Since the elections mirrored a European political representation system, there was no overall single party winner. Each party received elected seats in the government. The goal for each party was to agree on certain topics to focus a collective effort for change.

The Bucky Party received the most votes overall, with 73. Receiving ten less votes, the Old School Party followed with 63. These results may implicate that the student community is most concerned with issues surrounding RLC's, police treatment of students, quality of on-campus dining services and allocation of tuition funds. University officials are paying attention to these results.

"For me, it was learning more about the residential learning communities in terms of what people think about them," said Director of Housing and Residence Life Linda Franke. "In whether they like them, or what changes they want to see. I will gladly look into any recommendations that came out of the election results."

Franke, who also sits on the dining service committee, said that the other dining committee members were interested in the election results. Student input drives many of the decisions the group makes, according to Franke.

The Associated Students freshman elections, which were held on the same day as the mock elections, saw a turnout of 173 students. The mock elections received a turnout of 268 voters. This discrepancy suggests that a collective of political parties may be more effective in tackling campus-wide issues as opposed to using a single representative.

Rosenberger said that these new elections wouldn't replace the current voice of the student government, but proposed that the student senate could use certain aspects from the mock elections in future campaigns.

"What if the mechanism for the senators to do their work is putting the issues out there for a vote and using the technology from the mock elections to get their results," said Rosenberger. "In some ways, like a combination of a representative government using technology."

Senior Melissa Meek, a member of the Old School Party, was optimistic about the administration's interest in the election results.

"The fact that administrators are showing interest in hearing what the students want and they're willing to have this [mock] election count towards at least an influence as in what's going to go on in this school is wonderful," said Meek.

Curry was optimistic that the topics presented by her students would motivate change within the current state of the university. The mock elections are something that Curry hopes continue in future quarters.

"[The elections] would be good for Santa Clara because they would get certain issues out on the table and get students talking," said Curry.