While every UF Student Government election I’ve witnessed has been tinged with disgrace and folly, the last election was more embarrassing than I was prepared for, and its inordinate controversy deserves comment.
During the election, our campus was permeated with accounts of the Unite Party’s corruption. The Unite Party even received public criticism from sorority members, who are known to make up its base.
When the election finished, it seemed that everyone was to blame for the Unite Party’s win — except the Students Party.
In a letter to the editor Monday following their loss, Students Party candidates Alex Cornillie and Jesse Schmitt seemed to blame the about 40,000 UF students who chose to abstain from voting rather than acknowledge that its platform and campaign was not strong enough to mobilize those students to the polls.
The Unite Party wins every year because its campaign is strong enough to do just that: mobilize enough of its supporters to the polls. Its platform is not so bad as to cause enough students to vote against it.
The Unite Party is not corrupt, at least not relative to, shall we say, “real” politics. In fact, the future opposing party can learn a lot about campaigning from the Unite Party.
The Unite Party has strong support from a solid base, namely sororities and fraternities. This is how politics work: Because of the strength of its support, its base turns out in high numbers to the polls.
The Students Party, on the contrary, was not so much for something as it was against the Unite Party.
In his closing statement at the Student Government debate, Cornillie said, “Our party stands for something very important: fairness,” before commenting on the purported consensus of corruption and ineffectiveness of Student Government.
It seemed its entire campaign was focused on the antagonism of the Unite Party, directly or indirectly.
But having policies that support a minority base — in this case, sorority and fraternity members — is not corrupt. Nor is it corrupt to have practices to ensure the minority base votes for you.
I won’t argue against the Student Government being ineffective, but there was nothing to suggest that the Students Party would be less so.
I do not affiliate with or support the Unite Party. I know as well as anyone that the Villamil video was embarrassing to watch, perhaps even torturous; I know that probably every single vote the Unite Party received came from a fraternity or sorority member; I know they also played antagonistic politics, even making the Alligator an enemy, despite its reporters and editors always striving for the highest journalistic integrity.
But all that politics is just that: politics. None of it is inherently wrong or worthy of vilification. If anything, it’s a gentle introduction to what the candidates will face if they enter real politics.
From the past election we learn one thing: If another party wants to win big in future elections, its campaign will have to change from being anti-Unite to being for something.
And that something has to be promising and worthy enough to mobilize students to the polls.
Until then, the few students who care about UF politics can continue complaining and maligning the Unite Party while it laughs to the polls.
Abdul Zalikha is a biology and English junior at UF. His column appears on Wednesdays.
