Address the issues: vote in UC breezeway

Fight the apathy. The graduate-studentitis or commuteritis-or whatever you want to call it. You’ve got two more days to make your voices heard. Vote for your student government.

Why, you may ask, what does student government do for me?

Plenty.

The elected members of the University of Miami student government-the president, vice president, treasurer and senators-work closely with students and the administration to improve the quality of life on this campus. (One of the most recent accomplishments of the government was the inclusion of a student vote on the Board of Trustees and the appointment of a student representative before the Faculty Senate.)

These students make decisions on and push forth change on a variety of issues. Their efforts help boost campus security, strengthen academic standards, improve dining hall menus, and overall infrastructure. They also have the task of passing referendums to determine the allocation of the student activity fee, and work with student organizations to promote cultural diversity and student participation.

And if all that is not enough-your student activity fee pays half of the tuition of the president and a quarter of the tuition for the vice president and the senate speaker.

All of the presidential candidates have good ideas, but only a handful have the experience and charisma required to be student leaders. Their goals include tightening academic standards, increasing the lighting on campus, adding automatic tellers from other banks, increasing on-campus activities on the weekends, interaction among the student groups and extending library hours during finals.

These may or may not be your priorities. You may have other issues you want the student leaders to address. Let them know. Be a watchdog. Nobody else will do it for you.

Need more information on the candidates? Look them up. Go to the office and find out who they are. Send an e-mail to them. Leave them messages in their inboxes.

Use the power you have to make changes on this campus. Your vote determines what improves on this campus.