It's that time of year again! Election time! And no, not important elections such as state senate or local municipalities, I'm talking about student government, the bain of my existence!

They have actual campaign staffs which is wild to me since basically, you're not going to be doing that much even if you do win.

And what I really hate is how they stand out on Greene street giving out free food and merch for votes but do you really mean anything to them? Here's a hint: the answer is NO.

I know someone is going to ask, "Drew why do you hate student government?" And trust me I have my reasons.

My first issue, as I said, is that even if you win, you're not really gonna do much. If you get to be student body president, you can sit in on important meetings involving the university, BUT will you get to make real decisions that affect the university and how it makes and spends money? Nope. You're basically just a puppet that supposedly hears the concerns of students and sends them to the board of trustees but you don't actually get to fix them. You're just a figurehead.

Another reason I hate student government and the people who run for positions is that much like actual politicians, they're fake. Some of the candidates I met awhile in a much different setting as normal students before they ran for any student government position and I can assure you that they aren't liars or bad people.

However, as people in positions of power, or seeking positions of power often do, they manipulate people. They ask for your concerns and they claim to want to hear your grievances but in reality do they really care what you want or think? Are they going to change their platform based on what you said? Of course not! It's just a manipulation tactic to make you think your concerns are being heard while in reality, they are just entertaining you so you'll vote for them.

Again, I'm not saying that they're all terrible people, I'm just pointing out that this what they're doing and I personally am not a fan.

Third of all, I often feel targeted by student government candidates. I am in a few OMSA organizations and they always come to us specifically. Basically, they single out the marginalized people and try to get us to let them speak at our meetings so they can say hey, we support diversity if personally, they don't. They want to look good to the rest of the student body or at the very least they wanna say they got the "latinx/black/queer/etc." vote.

If they can claim they care about diversity and inclusion then the fake woke people on this campus will be more likely to trust them, which is exactly what they want. but again, does anyone actually care about improving the race relations on this campus? Are any of these candidates concerned with making our campus safer and more inclusive for our trans students? Are any of these candidates willing to go to the university and lobby for easier building access for some of our students with disabilities?

Chances are the answer is nope.

The final reason I hate the people in student government also has to do with the fact that I'm in organizations. Being on the executive board of an organization often means putting on events. And to hold events for the dear members of our dear organizations often involves asking student government for money.

Do they ever give you all the money you ask for? Nope. And so you're like well... fundraise? But you and I both know it isn't that easy. So you end up having to make the event less grand and beautiful OR you have to buy things yourself but there are only certain things we can buy with student government funds.

Basically, there's a lot of rules. But I know that student government changing hands doesn't mean that my orgs are ever going to get the money they need. And trying to hold events without money to buy things for said events is like going out in a monsoon wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip-flops.

The people in student government aren't willing to devote money to things that don't involve "school spirit" or sporting events. Therefore the organizations that need money aren't going to get it and the organizations that get money aren't the ones that need it.

So if you're passionate about student government, then vote. But will I ever endorse anyone, or care about these elections for that matter? Probably not.Will I ever be on a campaign staff? Nope. Will I even vote? Maybe, who knows?! But these elections don't matter because nothing about the way this school is run or how student government treats student organizations will change — and nothing in the real world will be affected by the elections, either.