To The Editor:
In his recent column, Tas Rahman argues that in order to improve student voter turnout, Student Government Association elections should only be validated if 33% of the student body votes. This would mean suspending student activity funding, ceasing advocacy to administrators and halting campus programming for students until turnout increases to the minimum threshold. As the president-elect for the Undergraduate Council of Students, I feel obligated to voice my disagreement.
The fix for low voter turnout is straightforward: The SGA must make a difference in the lives of students. Punishing successors of ineffectual leadership with paralysis allows them no opportunity to change the SGA’s perception. Rahman proposes “successive runoff elections” until an election receives a quorum. But such elections back to back would hurt turnout, not help it. The research supports this: foreign and domestic analyses find that holding several elections in a short time period significantly decreases turnout. A drawn-out series of elections could induce the opposite of Rahman’s intent.
Low turnout is certainly a problem for the legitimacy of student government at Brown, but shutting the SGA down deprives it of the ability to demonstrate its value and earn legitimacy. Instead of responding to Rahman with a thinkpiece on the nature of democracy, I believe that my time is better spent working on behalf of the student body. Here’s what I've been doing in the past 48 hours.
As part of my commitment to informed leadership, I’m preparing intensively for my upcoming conversations with top University administrators by reading literature on diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, University reports and books by industry professionals. On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of speaking with leaders in Sunrise Brown to hear how the UCS can best support their climate advocacy in the coming year, and I corresponded with the co-presidents of Brown Space Engineering to better understand their concerns around student makerspaces. On Wednesday, it was an honor to represent Brown students at the annual Victims Grove Ceremony, where victims of the Dec. 13 shooting at Brown and the Feb. 16 Pawtucket shooting were honored. Additionally, I put up my first batch of posters advertising the UCS Talent Bank, which aims to accelerate the appointment process and match more students to campus leadership opportunities. Finally, I had calls and sit-down conversations with outgoing SGA leadership and incoming elected officials, helping me to craft an agenda for next year that’s informed by the past and committed to the promises that my colleagues made during their campaigns.
Students spend just four short years on campus. Forcing engagement in student democracy by depriving students of the organizations, events and pro-student advocacy that define student life is senseless. I hope to cultivate engagement with the UCS by making the benefits of student government visible rather than withholding its benefits. Though I appreciate the creative theorizing offered in Rahman’s recent column, I’d rather keep focusing on doing the work of building a UCS that people want to vote for.
Sincerely,
Ariel Shifrin ’27
President-elect of the UCS
Ariel Shifrin ’27 can be reached at ariel_shifrin@brown.edu. Please send responses to this letter to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
