SGA turnout not a sign of apathy

Shane Wade
Opinion Editor

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t vote in this year’s student government elections. In truth, my failure to exercise my civic duty as a VCU student was one of ignorance: I had no idea when the elections were, who was running, what their positions were or how to vote.

But, judging from the turnout, I’m confident I wasn’t the only one.

Out of a campus of more than 32,000 students, 938 students voted. Last spring had a similar outcome, with 956 students voting.

Despite the student body’s disinterest in it, the SGA performs a critical function for all students, particularly students involved in any of VCU’s more than 500 clubs and organizations. The SGA also functions as a medium between students and the administration and although they continually seek student input, whether it be through social media or real-life interactions, the results speak for themselves.

Unfortunately, students, by and large, have shown that they’re just not interested in what VCU’s SGA does. There’s nothing wrong about that either: Living in a bustling city like Richmond, there are plenty of other activities and organizations to devote our time to outside of school. Many students work full-time and part-time jobs to pay for their education and make ends meet. Some are commuter students and scurry home after class. Those that have time for on-campus extracurricular organizations don’t always have time to keep up with SGA affairs.

Voter turnout for student government is always low, regardless of where you go. Compared to other campuses, a turnout of 938 voters would be considered high; at the University of Northern Alabama last spring, 488 out of the 6,637 eligible students voted in their SGA election. Our turnout, however, was low compared to Florida State, where 3,200 out of 42,000 students voted in their SGA elections. For them, that turnout was considered low.

It’s not fair for anyone to blame students for being inattentive or accuse them of being disconnected from the campus because they don’t pay attention to student government. Living in an urban setting like VCU naturally lends us to having busy lives, but even if our campus was in a more rural or secluded setting, more students wouldn’t care about the SGA. The plain truth is we’re busy. It’s sad, but true.

Don’t conflate the low voter turnout with voter apathy. Take it as it is: a vocal showing of college apathy. We don’t stay up to date about student government because we don’t stay up to date with most things that aren’t within the peripheral of our daily lives.

This reasoning makes it no less embarrassing that our turnout is so low, but shows that it’s not without valid reasons. The SGA could meet with every single student and outline their function, responsibilities and how to vote for them, but that wouldn’t change the fact that we’re just busy people.