Behind every club on campus, is the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.
Composed of 10 senators and three executive members, the ASUA legislative and executive branches assist in managing budgets, creates task forces and represents the student body.
Every year, you see the campaign flyers, the friends of the candidates wearing endorsement T-shirts, and mass emails telling you why you should vote.
And yet, on a campus of about 40,000 people, only 4,320 ballots were cast in the last election — meaning only about 10 percent of the student body voted. This miniscule amount of voters is evidence of just how little interest this campus has in ASUA.
ASUA isn’t taken seriously by students because of its lack of dialogue. Most students couldn’t even name the current ASUA president, let alone tell you what exactly their duties and responsibilities are.
Students need to become more engaged in student government and it’s ASUA’s responsibility to interact with the people they are making decisions for.
Hopefully this year’s new members take action to involve the students, as opposed to recognizing the problem and allowing the situation to remain stagnant.
— Michelle Cook is a journalism senior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu, or on Twitter via @miniswag1