The white screen stares back at me, and the cursor angrily blinks. For someone who always has so much to say, I don’t know what to say.

For those who don’t know, the Undergraduate Student Government has elected new members – and one of those members is me. I am now the Senator for the College of Communication and Information.

But, what do I say to my media colleagues whose jobs are to keep tabs on the very organization I now belong to? What do I say to about 32,000 students who didn’t even bother to vote?

If you don’t care about us, why should we care about you?

Luckily, for your sake, we do care about you. But we are few and far between.

Many positions went unopposed or had only two candidates in the race. A forum was held to discuss our platforms, but the only attendants were the candidates, candidates’ friends and people who just happened to be eating pizza in the Ratt.

It seems to me the election was a glorified popularity contest. Whoever knew more people was the winner.

I’m not saying the students who won were not the best choices. I actually think anyone who took the initiative to run in the first place would be a good choice. But someone who may have good ideas may not have a chance if he or she isn’t popular.

Take my experience for instance. I had an opponent who dropped out, but it was too late to take her name off the ballot.

Because she dropped out, she was not at the forum (like I was) to discuss her platform and her platform wasn’t in the Stater (like mine).

Yet, in the end, she got more votes than me. Granted, I didn’t make posters or campaign outside of attending the forum. I figured I’d save a tree and my energy since I was running unopposed.

But, she obviously didn’t campaign either since she dropped out. So, what were the votes based on?

Perhaps she looked cuter in her picture. Maybe she’s cooler than me. Maybe people think I’m a moron from previous columns.

Whatever the reason, I’m going to keep telling myself I would have won had I campaigned.

The popularity contest aside, I think we have a great student government. Some of us may not have tons of experience, but what we do have is passion for our school. We all hate that a lot of students go home on the weekends. We hate that programs aren’t well attended.

There is only so much we can do. We can tell our peers, put up posters, yadda, yadda. But that won’t change the fact that students simply don’t care.

Because I am a part of both student government and student media, I will have to remain equally loyal to both organizations. I don’t foresee problems with this because all USG meetings are open to the public, all documents are public record and the members are always willing to talk with the students.

I am not a political genius, nor am I perfect.

I take daily afternoon naps. I double-dip, and I sometimes wear two different socks on laundry day. But, I am willing to put my all into this school. I wish more would join me.

Jessica Lumpp is a sophomore magazine journalism major, the senator for the College of Communication and Information and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].