Elections week vomits on us

There was an election this week at Warwick. Did you notice? Elections week is always an odd time at Warwick; without warning, thousands of colourful cardboard signs are unceremoniously vomited onto every available wall in sight; somewhere, some kind of voting happens, before the aforementioned disease of colourful cardboard is equally as unceremoniously wiped from campus again. It is entirely plausible that a group of theatre students have been let loose with some craft materials before, a week later, someone manages to round them all up take them back to Milburn House.

In actual fact, the cardboard invasion is the result of something much more serious than a whimsical, university course based joke. Elections week is something that, in one way or another, affects every undergraduate walking the halls of University buildings today. Elections week is the time when the students of the University of Warwick have their say in the developments of their Students’ Union. Elections week is our time to determine the people who will be in charge of our Union. Their roles, from day to day, involve things such as determining which groups of students are – and aren’t – societies, arguing for cheaper prices in our Union outlets, planning campaigns to amend slow bus services, planning campaigns against rising tuition fees and attempting to gain compensation for freshers ousted to Liberty Park, Coventry – to name but a few. Surely anyone forced to live in Coventry deserves compensation?

Given the above roles, it is easy to argue that the Sabbatical Officers we elect do play a fair role in establishing the identity of your Students’ Union. Despite this, there are still a large number of students who claim that the elections are nothing but a pointless practicality, and that the winners will simply disappear into SUHQ for a year, never to be seen, and never to make a difference. Voter apathy, however, is nothing new. Last year’s Union elections had a turnout of 22.5 percent overall, the year before that 24.92 percent. These figures are disheartening.

The time we are living in is a politically active time for students; perhaps the most exciting time to be a student since Paris in the ’60s. We have a chance to make a difference; we have a voice that we can make heard; we have the internet and social media behind us, and yet, somehow, apathy still reigns. Maybe it isn’t apathy; maybe it is simply an overwhelming and widespread belief that we cannot make a difference. Why put in the effort if we will, ultimately, get nowhere?

But it might not be time to throw our towels of democracy into the ring just yet. The shocking news in SUHQ this week is that this year’s election saw a record turnout, which – apart for the editor who had already written an editorial on voter apathy – is fantastic news. At the same time, a victory was won for the power of protest this week in Egypt; we’re not going to be printing ‘power to the people’ on t-shirts just yet, but the idea should not fade. Whether we mean our Union, our country or our earth: it is ours. We have the will, we have the right and we have the power.