Get out the vote

There’s this sandwich shop on State Street in Madison.

It’s situated a few blocks off the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and about a half block from Langdon Street, which is home to most of the school’s fraternities and sororities.

The place gets packed with college kids pretty much every day around noon. If you find yourself sitting in the middle of this restaurant during lunch, you can catch bits and pieces of conversations with no effort.

People talk about homework, tests, friends, parties and just about every other thing a college kid cares about. It’s typical college conversation in a typical college restaurant, and it’s a typical scene on campuses throughout the state and across the country.

What do you think the odds are that more than a handful of the hundreds of students passing through this restaurant on a given day talk about upcoming campus construction projects? How many, do you think, discuss a big vote coming up in student government?

My guess is low and almost none, respectively. If my experience is any indication, college kids, by and large, don’t know or care about student government. It’s just not on the radar.

Now, how many of those students would readjust their interests if they knew those construction projects get funded, at least partially, through
student fees? How would the conversations change if those kids knew student government had its hand poised above their wallets?

I don’t care how old a student is or what financial background he comes from. People tend to stop and listen when the discussion turns to their money.

But the fact is most college students aren’t privy to the discussion. I’m thinking they don’t realize what’s really at play when student government gets together.

Is it the students’ fault for not paying attention? Maybe. Is it easier to keep the proceedings public but not too public? Yes.

Major construction projects probably don’t face a whole lot of opposition at the student government level. And I’m not saying they should.

But they need more attention than that given by about 10 students splitting their time between government, homework, tests, friends, parties, etc. Student fees are synonymous with property taxes, and big projects should go to a student-body referendum, just as big school projects go to referendums in every community in the state.

If we trust students to form a government that makes real-life decisions, then we should trust them to step up and make educated votes.

If that trust is misplaced and voter turnout stays in the tank, then nobody gets to complain when they can’t afford that sandwich shop on State Street.