What is activism?

Concerning the proposed new senate constitution, only 52 percent of the student body filled out their ballots. Senators' and ex-senators' frenzied attempts gained barely enough votes for presentation to the General Faculty on Tuesday. But does obtaining barely enough votes seem a little disturbing, considering that the proposal would reform the student government that was labeled by many students as misrepresentational and ineffective?

Oberlin appears to reflect the apathy of the outside world when it comes to voting for proposals and candidates. We preach and savor activism on campus in hopes that after our college careers, we will encourage and instill that same spirit of activism in our communities. Yet, when it comes to voting, we neglect to incorporate that right as part of our activism on campus in at least one respect many of us don't participate in student government elections.

Senators have continually struggled with encouraging the student body to take part in the voting process. Of those 52 percent who voted, how many students grudgingly filled out a ballot simply out of sympathy or out of reluctance to dissuade the desperate and one-sided pleas of a senator or ex-senator? Or, more importantly, how many students or organizations took the initiative to oppose the reform for any sort of reason?

Since senators received approval of the new constitution, the proposal was then presented to the GF for a vote. The GF voted on the proposal with hardly a peep of discontent. They appeared to be reluctant to step into the realm of student government which is, in many ways, respective of the student community. But was the easy passage of the proposal by the GF a display of respect to the student body or a display of apathy on their part to actually care and question the content of the proposal?

Students need to reflect on their definitions of activism. Student government, whether effective or ineffective, representational or misrepresentational, gains its power from the student community in every election it holds. In essence, student government is reflective of our community because we are given the opportunity to vote and change the institution. We must embrace our rights and begin to incorporate, in our individual definitions of activism, the right to vote in order to form a representative and effective student government.