For roughly 8 weeks student get barraged with friend requests on Facebook by candidates. They see the candidates' names, faces and talking point. But when they go to the polls what do students really know about their would-be- officers? What are their mission and goals? For those students who have the time, energy and determination to learn more, there are the Student Election Board Meet and Greets and debate forums. But even then students only get to see and hear what the candidates want.
So instead of trying to understand who each of the candidates really are, I'm going to look at the one thing an average student sees - campaign ads.
For the next few weeks, I will be examining the good, bad, and ugly of this year's IPSGA campaign ads. Starting with Students for Effective Government.
This is a screenshot of the Students For Effective Government facebook page. The first thing I notice when viewing this page is that I don't see any of the candidates' names. For the past few years, candidates have been banding together and forming short lived political parties in order to improve their chances of getting elected. This strategy can be a Catch 22 because (as seen in this case) candidates end up spending their time and money promoting the party instead of themselves.
After clicking on the info button the party's platform is revealed. According to the page, "Students for Effective Government is a coalition of IPFW students fighting to restore accountability, integrity, transparency, and fairness to IPFW Student Government."
This statement is full chock full of glittering generalities. Their list of objectives equate to the things like "Hoosier Values" and "The American Way". Further down they specify their goals as,
"Hold monthly fireside chats open to all students so we can receive direct input on the issues that matter most to you
● Focus on providing fewer, higher-quality student events on campus that appeal to a wider range of students
● Provide all of the organization's financial information online so each student knows exactly how and when their Student Activity Fee dollars are being spent
● Increase the fairness, consistency, and efficiency of the Student Senate funding process."
This list of goals is more accurate, but not quite precise. I would like to see a list of specific complaints against the current Student Senate and what they would do differently. By producing such as list it could show their dedication to increasing "fairness, consistency, and efficiency."
Don't get me started on their profile pic....
My final judgement of this artifact is "uninspiring". It would be redundant to called it an Ad and its not hard on the eyes (unlike some of the other candidates' advertizements.) But it definitively doesn't scream "Hope" or "Change" to either. It just doesn't speak to me.
