Help Make It Yours

Letters — Published March 29, 2011

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a whole lot about these elections. I don’t have the time to go read both websites thoroughly, but I took a 20-minute study break to watch the videos. I expected the most important campaign points to be shown there, to help me cast an informed vote. I won’t go into a detailed play-by-play here, because there have already been multiple articles comparing the videos.

However, after watching Action’s videos, I felt exhausted, annoyed, and slightly belittled. Don’t they realize they have a potential audience of 30,000 adult students? Why are they treating us like we are still in high school, as if these kinds of look-how-glam-we-are tactics will work to get my vote?

In contrast, after watching Your Concordia’s videos, I felt empowered and informed, and a little bit in love. The first two let me know exactly what the CSU is about and exactly what they stand for, and the diversity video told me they have a real grasp on what being a Concordia student is all about. And let’s face it; the rap video was the most endearing thing I have ever seen during an election.

I find that these videos reflect exactly the kind of approaches each team has in person. While Action doesn’t look you in the eye, shoves a flyer in your hand on the way up the escalator (along with some useless bribe like candy or…a pen? why?), and hangs around in small, exclusive cliques at school events, Your Concordia is like I made a new friend. They smile and say hi, ask how I am, and even asked permission before giving me a flyer.

Your Concordia flyers actually have a lot of useful information on them, rather than just a photo of themselves—after all, we vote on ideas, not images. Your Concordia has a much more relatable approach—they are like real students!

Needless to say, Your Concordia has my vote. I am excited to see a union that can actually relate to and address my needs, and I hope that all other students can see this clearly, too.

—Diandre Prendimano,
Creative Writing

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