By Kalyn Dunkins
Arts & Life Editor
DCGA elections are this Thursday, but surprisingly, there has not been a lot of campaign excitement.
Why is this, you ask? There is only one candidate running for president and only one candidate running for vice president.
Peculiar, yes, but this is not the first time a supposed lack of student government interest has occurred. “While competition is the norm, a great degree of competition isn’t necessarily the case. This isn’t the first time we’ve had this happen,” said Michael Brady, one of the faculty advisors to DCGA. He continued, “over the four to five years I’ve been advising, we’ve once had a president run unopposed and once had a vice-president run unopposed, but this is the first time it’s happening simultaneously.”
Current DCGA Vice President Haley Jones ‘17 said, “I do not think a lack of interest in student government is the reason no one ran for government. I think students may be struggling to find the ways in which they fit into the current structure of student government on our campus.”
Last year DCGA had contested elections for each position: president, vice president and class senators. Over 850 students voted last year.
“Of course, as a co-adviser, I would like to see more students pursue leadership roles within this campus organization- whether it be elected positions or appointed posts,” said Dean Bill Fox, the other advisor to DCGA. He continued,“I want to honor that students have put themselves forward as candidates.
Even though positions may not be as contested as in the recent past, I think all involved will agree that it is still important for the campus to be engaged with the elections process.”
Giancarlo Vita ‘17 from Chicago, the current presidential candidate said, “It would’ve been interesting running an actual campaign and having the opportunity to have like a Q & A.
The Q & A at The Nest was so that anyone and everyone could come out and talk to Caroline and I about anything–what we wanna do, what we wanna change, all that stuff.”
He continued, “I think people have the wrong interpretation of what DCGA is.
It comes from people interested in DCGA and people not interested in DCGA–on both behalfs. Within DCGA, I feel like there are a lot of people who act as if they are a part of something besides campus, like there’s DCGA on one side and the entire rest of the student body on the other side, when in reality that’s not what it is at all.
Everyone in DCGA is a student at Denison and anyone at Denison could be in DCGA.”
Because Vita is the only presidential candidate, he does not need to hang up posters or campaign.
However, Vita plans to table in Slayter between 11:30 and 2:00 p.m. on April 16, the day of elections.
He said, “I’m hoping if anyone has any concerns about anything they would come up and talk to me.”