OCR Text |
Show y COMMENL-_ THETHUNDERBlRD •SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY •THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1994 , PAGE 4 .,. DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT ELECTIONS? xpress yoursel f, Yours, Advocate, You and I, a n d W ho ca res?: t h ese are the names of the parties invo lved in t h e greatest ann u a l SUU gamedemo c r acy. Stude n t e lect ions at SUU serve a pos1t1ve role in studen t involvement, but always, there is one questio n lurking in the back of many students' mi nds - who r eal ly does care? Hyp ot h e ti ca ll y, i n the idea l si t uation, elections would not o nly bring the average student's ideas and concerns to li.ght, but a lso inspire the elected to fly in the face of conve ntion and serve a dedicated full term in wh ich he or s he fu lfills realistic campaign promises. On the m o rn i n g of Fe b ruar y 23, stude nts fa ced an env ironmentalist's n igh tma re as they saw electio n posters and flyers pinned to ever y available space o n walls, bulletin boards, and on lawns. Each o ne advertised party names, candidates, a n d t h e latest i n campaig n promises. The promises are unquestionably issue s deserved of attention. In t h is aspect they perfor m a va luable serv ice, bu t many are unrea listic and wi ll eith e r not be co m pleted in one term, o r wi ll not eve n be add ressed after t he election. T hi s is so ofte n t he case, t hat m ost students have assumed a n apat h e t ic at ti tude, a n d ri gh tly so. Last yea r, a ll the promises, ho t chocolate, a nd candy o nly routed a 28 pe rcen t st ud e nt body respo n se. Why? Recen tl y, a po li t ica l st udy con firmed what was a lready genera lly accepte d - the people do not t rust the politicians who serve them. SUU is not be an exception . So often, cand idates a re caugh t u p in the gam e of promising bigger and better improveme nts to w in, they forget to con cen t rate o n t he proble ms that can be solved more easi ly - those t h at wou ld p rove as a greater benefit to t he studen ts. It is a fine t h ing to swear off apathy, to promi se to solve a ll the u nivers ity's problems in one term, and it would be even better if anyone act ually could. But t h ey can't, and t hey won 't. Student elect io ns serve as experience fo r those in terested in law o r po li t ica l careers. They so close ly fo llow t h e actual e lectio n s t h at it is often t imes d ifficult to tell t he d iffe rence bet ween a stud en t cand idate a nd a state o r nationa l candidate. I n t h is case, imitation electio ns h ave t he poss ibility of being bet ter t han the real th ing if the ca nd idates p romise and del iver o n rea list ic goa ls t hat w il l bene fit t he SUU s t ude nt body. T raditi o n a ll y, the re is a 24 percent st udent-vote r tu rn-out. A pathy as great as t his can o n ly be solved by action - not bold words. Wh e n t h e re is actio n o n t h e fr o n t, t h e re wi ll b e movem ent fro m behind. Studen ts won 't avoid the candidates that line t he walks sho u ting reform, a nd m a ny m ore may even d ecide to vote. Until t he n , a ll the h ot chocolate, candy a nd campaig n prom ises w ill not pu t SUU together agai n . E THE THUNDERBIRD SO UTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY· CEDAR C ITY, UTAH Editon Jennifer Mo rley and Brady H. Peterson Opinion Director Heather Gn,en Opinion Assistant Jada Shaner Arts Editor Michelle C legg Pho«o Assistant Daw, Meanca Sports Editor john McCloskey Advcnising Rep Travis Newman Faculty Adviser Larry Baker Phoco Editor Joh n Guertler On C..mpus Editor Smccy Berry Asoociatc Adviser Lynn S. Dennett Th, n,..nd.,.bi,d is publish«! tach Monday and Thursday of tht acad<mic )'cat by and for die studtnt body of Souchtm Ura.h University and is not affiliarcd with the univcrsicy's depattment of communication. The \'lC\\'S and opinions txpresscd m Tht Thwndm,ird arc those of individual writC'rs and do no< necessa rily ttfltct cht vit"WS of the institu tion, fxu\ry, staff or srudC'nf body in gC"neral. The unsigned C'd1torial dirra},,• abo\'e is the orinion of~ 1lucndtrbfrd as a single entity. 1..ttttrs ro the editor must be typC'd and include the namt and phonc number. Only the name will be prinred. Namts will noc be withheld under any circumstances and the edito r rcstrvcs tdiring privileges. Letters mu.st ht: :submitted by noon Fridays for Monday editions; 5 p.m. Tucsdays for Thursday tdirioru. Grievances: Any individual with a grit'Vancc against Tht Thundabird should dirtet such problem first ro the td itor. If unrtsolvtd. dur griovance should thtn be directtd ro the advucr. If still unn,solvtd, the grievance should be dim:ned tO the SUU Publications Council. 586-7710. Th< Th•nd,mi,d: Offices in SUU Ttchnology Building 003. Mail at SUU Box 9384, Ccdor C ity, lJT 64720. Phon< (SOI) 586-7757, 586-7756, 566-7750. 586-5466. FAX 586-5467. LETTERS Post rules prohibiting theatre attendance TO THE EDITO R: I waited fo r two mo nths to see the play Broadway Bound. First, let me say that I was n ' t waitin g beca use I think Th eatre is the highest fo rm of human expression. I perso nally prefer the mov ies. I was n 't waitin g because l beli eve th at So uthe rn U tah U nive rsity Theatre is special. It was a simple matter of knowing someone in the play and wanting to su ppo rt that person. Because I live o ut o f tow n and co mmute to Ced ar each day for school, I asked som e friends to pick up tickets fo r me and my wife. T he theatre patron was gracious enough to allow my friends to pick u p my ticket at the student price and another one fo r my wife at half the regular admissio n price of $8. Before I continue with the story, it might be helpfu l to ex plain a little about my family situation. My wife and I have one child - a son. He is about a year and a half old. Before he was born, my wife and I had m any di scussions about the way we wanted to raise and take care of him. I don't think we imagined the enormous responsibility and weight that we have felt in trying to be good parents. Nor do I thin k any pe rson who has no t had to be completely responsible for someone ca n comp rehend th a t type of sacrifice. Since d1e age of six weeks, we have taken hi m everywhere wid1 us. We love to do th in gs as a fa mily. His favo rite movie so far has been Beetho1ien's 2 nd. l think it' s a p retty wide ly understood fact that parents can't protect children from every danger they face in life, but as a parent, I feel a need to protect my child as mu ch as I ca n. Beca use o f th is conscious decision, my wife and I have made the choice to take him with us whenever we can. Since his birth, there has only been one time we left him with a baby sitter that was not a close friend or fa m ily member. I am a member of The Church of Jesus C hrist of Latter Day Saints, b ut I want it clearly understood that my reluctance to leave my child in the care of stran gers is not due to a teaching of the church . This is a personal decis ion I have made based o n the results of child care tragedies that I h ave both hea rd about and witnessed. . Many of you may scoff at my ign o ran ce of t rying to bring a "disruptive ch ild" to the theatre. Th ose o f you that d o, probably don't know how uncomfo rtable l feel when my chi ld m isbehaves . W hen that happens, my wife or I im med iately take him o uts ide to avoid disturbing other people. I k no w th at ma n y people, especially th ose without children become extremely an noyed when d1ey have to listen to a child crying o r screami ng at a pu blic event. From d1ese people who want me to understand how much they want me to leave my ch ild at home, I want understand ing of how much I want my child to be with me where l know he is safe. Back to the sto ry ... Wh en we arr ived at t he theatre with our friends and our child, it was about ten minutes before d1e play was to start. We entered the theatre, and the girl at the door tore d1e stubs off our tickets. As we were walking towards our seats, one of the ushers stepped in fro nt of us, and looki ng past us said that our child was not allowed in the theatre. I looked around fo r so m e s ign th at r evea led th is info rmation, but found none. W e were ushered to th e ticket office where we met PJ from W isconsin. (CONT INUED O N PAGE 5) |