Vote!

LettersLuke Horimoto — Published March 29, 2011

Outside of my academic commitments, I am also the president of the Concordia Music Student Organization, a member of the music departmental council and a member of the Fine Arts Student Association council.

As you should be well aware, the CSU election campaign is in full swing. To speak on my own behalf, I value transparency and accountability.

Most of us at Concordia are young, hardworking individuals and we are all human, so it’s only normal to make mistakes; after all, it is the best way to learn. However, to try and cover up spilled milk is feeble and unnecessary.

Transparency, accountability and accessible council meetings are important to me when it comes to a platform. Your Concordia stands by these points. It goes without saying that for these reasons, I support Your Concordia’s campaign.

That being said, I will state that there is another eyesore of an issue at hand. That is the poor student voter turnout at CSU elections—3 per cent last year, with Fine Arts having the weakest turnout. This is unacceptable.

Concordia has a rich history of stirring shit up and it’s about time we collectively take the power into our hands again. Strength can be found in numbers and undergraduates potentially have about 34,000 people’s worth of clout. Imagine one and a half Bell Centre’s yelling at once? That’s a lot of noise— and this can be achieved. It only takes a short while to read up on each of the running slates and only a few minutes to cast a vote.

I know who I am voting for after being informed, and I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the respective teams and candidates and make an educated decision.

To close, I would like to say that when you decide you won’t vote, you implicitly forfeit your right to complain about the elected student union.

—Luke Horimoto,
Concordia Music Association

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 28, published March 29, 2011.