Elections for Representative Committee take over Douglas

By Jacey Gibb, Opinions Editor

ike the temperature outside,
| the political landscape at

Douglas College is heating
up. Campaigns for the Douglas
Students’ Union’s Representative
Committee have seized both
campuses, and those apathetic
towards politics in general are
now being forced to care about
yet another level of governing.
But while your vote in the federal
election may have minuscular
impacts, your vote as a student can
count for a lot more.

For the 2012/2013 term, there
are two platforms running opposite
of each other, Restart and Progress,
with additional candidates running
independently. Both groups are
aiming for similar things (increasing
student life at Douglas, petitioning
for tuition decreases) but while
everything on paper sounds great,
I'm here to give a more critical look
at several of the political promises
being made.

Of course tuition is stupidly
expensive’and everyone would love
for school cost less than it does now,
but that sort of a change is out of

our direct control. As much as we
hate to admit it, the government
and colleges are the ones in charge
here. I still think it’s important to
raise awareness for these issues
via things like the National Day of
Action, and in the past there have
been victories like tuition increase

Something Progress has
attached to their platform is
promoting student housing. While
the idea of a shorter commute to
Douglas is something everyone
can get behind, who can honestly
say that they would want to live
near the school? The campus is a

“While it'd be great for the Representative Committee to start work on
projects that future generations can carry on with, you're a student at
Douglas College now. That means you want change to happen now.”

caps, but if someone tells you that
they'll lower tuition costs if you
vote for them, know they’re just
fishing for easy votes.

Restart is addressing one of my
biggest beefs with the college: the
Wi-Fi. There’s almost no point in
trying to access the Internet from
your laptop during peak hours, so
an improvement to the network
seems like a great idea. The college
is actually planning to update the
system this fall, but something
candidate Jill Griffin would like
to see is the Wi-Fi extend more
effectively into the DSU building as
well.

ghost town after the 4 p.m. mark
and most people don’t even want
to hang around after their classes
are over, so I doubt many people
are interested in calling Douglas
home. The college also has plans for
student housing in the future, once
enrolment at both campuses near
their capacity, but this is something
that won’t manifest for several
years.

A problem with politics is
many candidates over promise
and under deliver, even when they
don’t realize it. While it’d be great
for the Representative Committee
to start work on projects that future

generations can carry on with,
you're a student at Douglas College
now. That means you want change
to happen now. I don’t want the
candidates to solve world hunger,
but things like reopening the
Dougout and hosting more student
events are the kind of stuff that
voters should be concerned about.

A sure way to secure my vote
would be to decrease the amount
of spending on DSU merchandise.
I'm sure I’ve gotten about five shirts
over the last two years, as well as
several water bottles and other little
trinkets, including a handy dandy
USB drive. While all this stuff is
great, it’s not going to improve our
school or my academic experience
in any way.

. Voting for the elections started
this past Monday, March 26, and
will carry on through to March 30
at both the New Westminster and
the David Lam campuses, though
voting times vary between the two.
So start trying to figure out where
you put your student ID, think
about which candidates can best
throw down with the issues that
matter to you, and get ready to
check off some boxes.

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