Locke Street contemplations Where do you even begin to report on the last week?
On March 3, a group of about 30 individuals dressed in black and with a banner stating, “We Are the Ungovernable” marched down Locke Street and vandalized multiple local businesses. A few examples from the list of those affected include the Beverly, Bitten, Donut Monster, Locke Street Meats, Pippa & Prue, Neo and Naroma. All of these had windows smashed. Multiple other businesses were egged. Swarms of people visited Locke Street...
Inconsistent presidential elections An overhaul of the rules is needed no matter who ends up winning
While I have written about how we should be expecting campaigns on campus to follow the rules, a larger problem exists. What if the rules need reform? Having odd rules does not excuse a candidate from not reading the rules, intentionally breaking them or their inability to run a disciplined campaign team. But regardless of how all of these recent appeals for the McMaster Students Union president-elect turn out, there should be a...
Student opportunity positions need help Some of the most expensive services on campus need updates and support
There are a number of full-time positions open to graduating students that the McMaster Students Union employs each year. Each one for the 2018-2019 academic year are currently up on the MSU website or will be in the coming days and weeks. These range pretty drastically in the responsibilities outlined and the skillsets needed for each considering the services they are attached to, e.g., the Silhouette, CFMU, Campus Events and the...
The failure to engage students this election A massive drop-off in voting is worrisome for municipal affairs, but it is not surprising
This is the first time since 2013 that less than 40 per cent of students voted in the McMaster Students Union presidential election. The number dropped almost 12 per cent from last year, and represents almost 3,000 students. There are about nine months until the Hamilton municipal election. If you cannot get students to vote for their own union’s president, how do you ever expect to will them into voting in a municipal election that...
“The president doesn’t do anything anyway” Previous resentment for student politics and a look at the upcoming year
The editorial on Jan. 21, 2016 highlighted some of the strongest ideas that the McMaster Students Union has had from winners and losers of previous presidentials. This also noted that this was still the case even if they sometimes take years to come about. Mac Farmstand, the fall break, the Peer Support Line, the MSU emergency bursary and the full-year bus pass are all mentioned as examples. Light Up the Night, the referendum for...
Common themes in presidentials Takeaways from previous years of tendencies
1) Get a lead and maintain it Voters will rank every candidate from one to seven. Round one simply indicates everyone’s first choice on the ballot, and the candidate with the least amount of first place votes is knocked out. For the rest of the rounds, the ballots for losing candidates are redistributed to their top remaining preference. This continues until a candidate reaches more than 50 per cent of the vote. However, the...
