If you want to have a voice on this campus, you have to vote in the USG elections.

As journalism students, there are times we forget that not every student on campus understands the makeup of our university and knows about the people who run it. Most students — we hope — know who President Lester Lefton is, though we realize not everybody knows what a provost is or does (the provost essentially is in charge of all issues pertaining to academics and faculty, and Todd Diacon is Kent State’s). But there is another governing body at Kent State that students should know about: Undergraduate Student Government.

USG is a group of students elected each year to advocate for the student body, much like student council did in high school, though USG has much greater pull than planning for senior prom. According to its website, Kent State’s USG “provides vital services and entertainment to the university community.” The executive director, a position currently filled by senior Evan Gildenblatt, oversees eight directors who cover areas of student life and 16 senators who represent each college, commuter and off-campus students, residence hall students, undecided majors and other student bodies. Each representative is responsible for advocating for any issues and concerns within his or her jurisdiction. If that wasn’t enough to convince you of their importance, they’re also the students responsible for bringing in famous bands and artists to campus.

Voting for next semester’s USG representatives will take place on FlashLine on March 5. In the meantime, the students running for these positions will be campaigning all over campus, and the Daily Kent Stater will be profiling each of them for the next two weeks leading up to voting day. We encourage students to be informed in their voting decisions and, more importantly, to actually log into FlashLine to vote on March 5. This is your university, after all, and if you don’t want to vote, then you have no right to complain when things don’t go the way you want.