SU Democracy: Death by giant orange hamster?

[dropcap]I’[/dropcap]ve been at this University for four years, and in that time I’ve found that only three things are ever guaranteed; Humanities students will always be looked down upon, the food is always overpriced, and the SU is always incompetent.

It’s a continuity that almost makes me happy. In this ever changing, almost nebulous world, the SU will always be completely inept. It’s a fact that’s dogged me from my first year, and one that I’ll probably think about on my death bed.

I’ll lay there, coughing and wheezing. I’ll beckon to my children, bring them close. And I’ll whisper: “why would they think that a giant orange hamster and a stupid inflatable ballot box will increase voting in an election no-one knows all the details about?”

It honestly astounds me. Apathy at Warwick is endemic, and it has been for the past few years; often, we’re lucky if we meet quorum in elections.

Yet this election must be an all new low for voting. The final figure for overall voters was 2416, which is the absolute bare minimum; indeed, for two positions it wasn’t even that; they remained inquorate.

It honestly astounds me. Apathy at Warwick is endemic, and it has been for the past few years; often, we’re lucky if we meet quorum in elections.

The reality is that these numbers, even with Wapathy (my new term for Warwick apathy), are shamefully low. The overall number of students at Warwick is 23750. That means that just over 10% of all students were interested in these last elections.

Even if we assume that some demographics of students would have been less interest in the elections (such as those who live off campus) this would still make these numbers shockingly low. As Warwick Accommodation states, there are over 6400 rooms on campus.

Surely it would have been easy to encourage those who actually live here to vote? I live in Redfern; I barely heard anything about these elections. What do they mean? What will it change?

The sad truth is that it will just make democracy even more inaccessible for those at Warwick. Before the ‘exec’ positions were created, it was an informality that a certain group of activist students dominated the Warwick political scene, boycotting products left, right and centre.

The sad truth is that it will just make democracy even more inaccessible for those at Warwick

Now it’s part of the SU’s policies to allow those student’s opinions to hold sway over everyone else’s. Warwick SU have really fucked up on this one. They’ve put their democracy behind yet another layer of bureaucratic process, making it less accessible, less easy to follow.

Who knew that a giant, idiotic, and slightly terrifying orange hamster would spell the end (well more so than usual) of fairness at Warwick?

Correction: The article previously stated that one position remained inquorate, when in fact two where.