Ignoring Our Civic Duties
“There comes a time to Do. And it's four years long; and we're part-way through it But there’s hope because unlike ...
Dec 7, 2013
“There comes a time to Do.
And it's four years long; and we're part-way through it
But there’s hope because unlike
almost-every-cab-driver-in-this-city-when-I’ve-just-withdrawn-a-100-dirham-bill
we CAN make change
this place is still what we make it.
This is still our garden and we need to tend it—it's not broken -
we don't need to mend it - but we do need to make it kick ass.”
Yannick Trapman-O’brien (Class of 2014)
Frankly, a 58 percent turnout for Student Government elections should come as a surprise, not to mention the 35 percent turnout for the most recent election. Given the location of the ballot, we cannot blame the dismal turnout on accessibility. Given the size of the community, we cannot blame it on the challenge of outreach. So what or who is to blame?
The Student Government has duties, constitutional and implicit. Though there is no written indication to the degree or scope of required communication and transparency, the community should acknowledge that the current standard is simply insufficient. A recent article outlined ways in which the Student Government has failed in these implicit duties. The government did not explicitly inform the student body about the Executive Board shifts leading up to the election, the election rules were not publicized and two referendums were announced and placed on the ballot only a few hours before it opened.
This is information we should expect to hear through presidential announcements, through posts on the Student Portal or even through student publications like The Gazelle. However, none of this came in a timely manner. I can’t confidently say whether this silence is indicative of apathy in the Student Government or merely incompetence. But we have earned this silence, for many can argue — and I have in the past — that as student body, we have been apathetic toward our governance. Who’s going to hold the government accountable if not us?
It is true that the members of the Student Government have an extra set of responsibilities laid upon them, but that does not rid us of our own civic duty. As students at NYU Abu Dhabi, we were accepted to and matriculated at this university with the explicit understanding that we would be partners with each other in conceptualizing and building the institution, and the Student Government is our vehicle to do so.
General excuses for inaction concerning the utility of government do not apply in our community as our student body is small, so one vote can very easily tip the scales. Our institution is young, so it is prone to reform in response to the student voice. Very recently, we saw a tie in the run for treasurer; a single vote could have tipped the scales on the position for the person charged with overseeing the distribution of funds for Student Interest Groups and events. Empirically speaking, there is no other position that has such a visible impact on the everyday student experience.
We have the power, the medium and the responsibility for action — and when dissatisfied, for change — clearly laid out before us. It is our task as students to participate in the system as much as we are able, more in this democracy than any other. It is also the responsibility of the Student Government to go above and beyond when it comes to transparency and communication, not to attach themselves to the written rules exclusively and the loopholes that still lay therein.
The success of NYUAD is not contingent upon a few star pupils; it is not marked by research papers and art pieces alone. The success of NYUAD is contingent upon the students and their government working together, first helping to build and then seeking to perfect our university.
“There comes a time to Do” — and this is your call to action.
Brett Bolton and Juan Felipe Beltrán are contributing writers. Email them at editorial@thegazelle.org.
related
trending