As I sat in on the annual Student Government debate Thursday, I was all smiles as I took the opportunity to shake hands with old friends on both sides of the aisle and even some former colleagues from Freshman Leadership Council who were hosting the event. Like most UF students, I’ve been happy to avoid the politics and take the best of what SG has to offer: great memories, a chance to serve my community and a great love for my university and my fellow students.
However, as the lights dimmed for the debate and the all-too-casual political attacks began emanating from the ballroom’s speakers, I found an unfamiliar feeling emanating from the pit of my stomach: disgust.
Now, coming from somebody who’s gone around the block with SG, that statement might come off as a bit unbelievable. To be straight, I’ve seen my share of nonsense. But through it all, I’ve always managed to come together with both parties at the end of the day and say, “I see where you’re coming from.”
But Thursday night was different. After years of taking the high road (relatively speaking), I watched hopelessly as the Student Alliance party decided that it would be a good idea to change things up. If life’s about winning elections, maybe it was. But as I listened to these leaders turn real issues into political ploys, I asked myself, “Do they actually believe this?”
Do they actually believe that the Reitz Union is fine? This is the building where dance teams are forced to practice out in the cold, where student organizations are forced to meet in rooms that barely qualify as walk-in closets (if there are rooms to meet in at all), where places to sit and study are as hard to find as a class without some self-important kid interrupting every five minutes to point out how “intelligent he is” and where 50,000 students get their free printing in a room that has water dripping through the ceiling into buckets.
Do they also believe the staff of Gator Dining Services and our Business Services Division are incompetent and evil? I know these honest and hardworking people personally. Student Alliance does, too.
That is why I found it nearly unbelievable that the Student Alliance would fault both the Unite Party and Aramark, UF’s food service provider, for ignoring the students while the Alliance completely ignored the fact that Aramark and the Unite Party have taken extraordinary efforts over the last few years to improve our dining experience, incorporate student feedback and lower prices. Take a look yourself at the drastic overall decrease in meal plan prices over the last year and the complete revitalization of our dining facilities in progress if you don’t believe me.
But that’s what it’s come to for the Student Alliance.
As if these political ploys were not enough, the Alliance candidates went on to complete their personal transformations, as they tore at the honest and hardworking people of the Unite Party, or as one might gather from the Alliance, cogs in some giant machine working to destroy the lives of our students. Even Unite Party candidate Ashton Charles, who is arguably one of the nicest and most caring people I’ve ever met, was painted as a monster no better than Lane Kiffin.
This is ridiculous. The Student “Alliance” party has taken it too far. The trash talk coming from the Student Alliance in last week’s debates and Alligator columns make Snookie’s brawl on Jersey Shore look like a sorority pillow fight.
The Gator Nation is supposed to be better than this. We can’t afford to make this election about what we should not do and who we should not be. We can’t make this election about halting renovations vital to the continued health of UF’s student life. We can’t let the Student Alliance’s “just say no” campaign become the new slogan of The Gator Nation.
Why? Because the rest of this state’s students are not throwing each other in the dirt. The rest of the universities are not taking this recession as a sign to throw in the towel. Instead, they’re coming together as one. They’re building better facilities. They’re leaving us in their dust.
Whether the Student Alliance wants to be those students who raise their hands every five minutes to stop the class and hear themselves talk, or the students that unite to accomplish amazing things is their choice.
But for me, the choice to unite and build a better union is not a choice at all. And that’s not because I’m Greek. Not because I’m “involved.” Not because I’m out of touch. But because I’m a Gator, and I’m finally ready to unite.
Michael Stromquist is a senior economics major.
