It's that time of year again. Candidates are preparing for the East Lansing City Council elections in November. Students, who make up a large portion of the city's population, need to take notice and vote for the representative they want.
Sometimes smaller government elections like the City Council's go unnoticed by students. Only the presidential and sometimes the state elections are worthy of notice and then it's back to three years of oblivion. These kind of elections are important, but the effects voters feel from state and federal decisions are sometimes slower than laws and policies made locally.
Considering all the issues students and residents are having with one another, a local view of government seems more prevalent at the moment.
Need we remind anyone of the April 2-3 disturbances issue? After the Spartans men's basketball team lost to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, an estimated 3,000 students gathered around Cedar Village. Police allegedly tear-gassed, pepper sprayed, injured and arrested several students that night. Many residents believe the police's actions were justified while many students believe they were victimized by police brutality.
There's the constant debate as to whether inappropriate behavior and conduct at tailgating is the fault of students or other fans. New regulations help schedule times for tailgating, but also restrict students to the tennis courts in an effort to observe their behavior during tailgating.
Not to mention the friction between students and residents in surrounding neighborhoods trying to coexist in a college town. As students party and celebrate, non student residents complain of noise, destruction of property and violent behavior.
Yes, students have an invested interest in what happens in city government.
The City Council currently consists of older, predominately white residents, which isn't an accurate portrayal of the diversity in this community. Among the four candidates running for the two city council seats, two are incumbents and one is a student.
Students have tried to run for East Lansing City Council before, but to no avail. The council welcomes the idea of a student joining and representing the 45,000 people enrolled at MSU. Whether political theory and constitutional democracy senior John Fournier is qualified or not will be clear from his campaign, but it's something for voters to consider.
In order to vote for the city election in November, students need to register or change their district to East Lansing by Oct. 11. There are various online sites where people can register to vote or change voter information, such as www.rockthevote.com or www.cityofeastlansing.com.
This is an opportunity for students to choose who will represent the city. We all live here, we should have a voice in what happens in East Lansing.
