Editorial Board

The issue:SDSU’s new student leaders, Alex Brown and Chris Schaefer, will run unopposed in this year’s SA elections.

Our view:Students don’t care. A lack of candidates shows a deep sense of apathy. Students need to make getting involved in university life a priority.

With little fanfare, the next set of leaders for the Students’ Association steps in.

We don’t get to decide if Alex Brown and Chris Schaefer are the people we want to lead us. That’s a sad state of affairs. Out of nearly 12,000 SDSU students, only two people – two – were willing to take a shot at the top spots.

They’re getting a lot for very little work. Big scholarships, probably a trip abroad and key voices in the direction of millions of student fee dollars.

It would be easy to rail away at the cozy, inbred Greek world of the Students’ Association. It would be easy to paint Alex and Chris as the next riders on a plush gravy train.

But the reality, and its causes, are much more difficult.

The truth is, the two students are putting their grades and relationships on the line for the good of the students they represent. They’ve got a lot on their plate. Over the last few years, power has shifted in the Students’ Association. Active presidents and vice presidents have led the charge on aggressive programs for students.

While the programs have been good, the power shift is bad. More and more, the top leaders and the executive board of the SA make the decisions of the broader senate.

But that power comes at a cost. More is simply being done by fewer – those at the top.

The clear and simple fact is that only a select few even consider picking up the president’s gavel. And of those few, even less want to carry the burdens that weigh down the job.

At the same time, many students on this campus view the university not as a family, or a community. Not as a place to cherish. To many, SDSU is a halfway house to the rest of life. A chance to get a piece of paper that might help in getting a job.

Very few even get involved in student activities at all, or participate in their university.

That is the ultimate sadness here. The empty seats in Frost arena. The dying clubs.

Sure, studying takes time. Work cuts hours out of the day or night. But take the time to look around you and see what you can do to be part of the world of SDSU. It may be big or small. But odds are you’ll learn something. And you might just give something back to this university.

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll run for SA president.

Hopefully you’ll have some competition.