I Believe in Your Concordia
I would just like to express how impressed and appreciative I am for the clean, honest and engaging campaign that Your Concordia has been running during this year’s elections.
Especially since it is in stark contrast to what Action has been doing. It baffles me that anyone can even take Action seriously after seeing their videos. The first one was not only vacuous and completely irrelevant to student politics, but it also included many people who have since voiced dissatisfaction at their inclusion (and implicit support).
Their second video was an obvious attempt to exploit an issue that’s dear to students’ hearts, but that they know nothing about. Not only did they get the ONLY fact in their video wrong (the numbers of how much tuition will be going up) but they also all tried to attach themselves to an issue none of them have spent any time working on before campaign period. I hadn’t seen a single one of the Action team at any protests/panel-discussions/meetings/conferences previous to campaigning time.
Beyond that, the rest of their campaign has been a mix of verbally assaulting students and empty promises (shuttle bus to the moon, anyone?) However, I wouldn’t say the Your Concordia campaign has been awesome only in comparison to the incredibly shallow one their opposition has put together; no, I actually truly believe they’ve run a great campaign in their own right.
It’s easy to dismiss any effort this time of year as just empty campaigning, but Your Concordia’s attempt to reach out to Concordia students has been so genuine. It’s sad to note that in spending so much time actually having conversations with students might have hurt their reach, and I can only hope that Action’s spamming technique doesn’t prove effective.
Your Concordia has not only been taking in ideas and actually responding to them through their site and blog, but they’ve repeatedly addressed critical comments they received and responded to them with class. I don’t need to point out how quickly critical comments have disappeared from Action’s Facebook page. Your Concordia’s videos have been meaningful, thought provoking and moving. The fact that they spent time making an informational video says tons about their overall philosophy. They want students to know what’s going on, and I believe that any informed student will have little trouble choosing whom to vote for.
I usually struggle to trust any candidates during this time of the year, but I believe Your Concordia has worked hard enough to prove that they really mean everything they say and promise.
—Emily Skahan,
Theatre Performance
This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 28, published March 29, 2011.
