After a few weeks of chaos, the Student Government elections are finally over. I’m not really sure who won. Oh, right, the same people as last time. But we call them the Swamp Party now.
I am like the majority of students at UF — I don’t care.
I don’t care about SG. I don’t care about elections. I don’t care about these two opposing parties. I don’t care what they do with the $17.5 million to which my student fees contributed.
They’re in my space. I just want to get to class.
When I’m in the on-campus traffic areas, such as Turlington Plaza and the Reitz Union Colonnade, I try to not look at the leeches creating obstacles for me to get from Point A to Point B.
I talk on the phone, I text and I look away. I even try to walk away. And they follow me. This is harassment. When they ask me if I voted, I say “yes.” I lie. Five seconds later, another leech asks me the same question. I lie again.
I’ve even traveled out of my way, past my typical route, to try to avoid confrontation and dishonesty.
It would help if I knew what these parties stood for, not who stood for them last week wearing their party’s attire.
The Unite-turned-Swamp Party is run by Greeks: the real Greeks and the wannabes, aka multicultural sororities and fraternities and the like. The Students Party is run by everyone else.
I’ll admit I’m at fault, too. I’ve been approached by many Swamp Party and Students Party supporters, all overly friendly and eager to talk.
I have never stopped and had a conversation with them. I’ve never questioned them about how their party can help me, how much they know about their party and how forced they are by their social organization to stand there and talk to me on a hot day of 90 degrees.
But I will give props to how polished the entire Swamp Party campaign is for having the best designed shirts and a well-organized and informative website that contains all the information I need, albeit biased, about SG elections.
I wish I saw this website before I was bombarded by stalkers on my way to class. Maybe I would have voted.
One major issue the Swamp Party faces is its branding. It’s always the same party with the same people, just with different names.
Swamp Party, Gator Party, Unite Party and currently Swamp Party — again. Changing the name doesn’t change its image. We’re not that dumb.
The Students Party is the “other,” “independent” and lesser-known party. It is considered weak, new and inexperienced.
The orange shirts with a seemingly iron-on photo of the Century Tower are the worst. Is there a graphic design major who can design a shirt? You can add it to your portfolio.
I have always admired The Students Party for not disrupting my day and for not being “in my face” when I am on campus. I knew that if I needed them, at my convenience, they would listen.
This year, however, it decided to market itself comparative to the ever-strong Swamp Party; it campaigned right behind them by reaching out to us students. What’s confounding is that I saw two people who cut their orange shirt to tanks, like frat tanks.
Last year the election was very close; The Students Party lost by a record 114 votes. I thought it was making progress, slowly rising in popularity.
This year, it lost by more than 3,180 votes.
What happened? Where did the supporters go? Did they all graduate or give up?
Life is tough. You can’t trust people anymore.
Perhaps leeching around campus is not the way to garner our votes. It does get our attention — our negative attention.
All the attention I received the days before elections pushed me away from the entire SG battle. I felt power in lying to them about my voting status and felt power in not being part of their drama.
Raksheen Ayaz is an advertising and business junior at UF. Her column usually runs on Thursdays. You can contact her via opinions@alligator.org.
