The shotgun wedding that has been the Student Government Association election continued Thursday night with an open-to-the-public slate debate.
Just one night after the presidential, vice presidential debate all members of all slates were ready to meet the public and address students' questions.
They didn't have much of an audience.
About 20 students, one-tenth of a percent of the students enrolled at Ball State University, came to hear how and why 12 students want to represent them.
This was the place where students chose the questions.
This was the time to grill the candidates to determine who would best represent student views.
This was the place where nobody showed up.
It has been a hasty process to get through the election season and stay in line with the elections code.
Elections Board Chair Marco Pretell-Vazquez said the code has a predetermined time frame for election season and any changes would have to be cleared by the entire student senate.
Pushing back the days of the voting from Monday and Tuesday to later in the week would create problems because students often leave for Spring Break early.
"I think that we'd have even lower student response if we were to move it to the end of the week," he said.
A tight schedule and rapid-fire debate scheduling still should not deter students from attending and making the SGA slates accountable to everyday students.
SGA is supposed to be the voice of every student on Ball State's campus from commuter students to nontraditional students to students living in a residence hall.
They represent us.
Students should care what they have to say.
Students should have questions about how the slates plan to spend the $80,000 allotted to them.
Senior Brittany Bower has realized the importance of SGA and attended Thursday night's debate.
"I knew I wanted to come out and I wanted to be educated," she said.
The desire to learn and be educated shouldn't be too hard to muster considering students attend college to learn.
Learn from this. If you encounter anyone campaigning for a slate this weekend question them about the slate's platform.
Ask what they can do for you and how they will make your time at Ball State better.
They might not know the answer, but at least you made them think.
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