So apparently college students are really apathetic
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  So apparently college students are really apathetic
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Poll
Question: How high is/was turnout in a typical student-body election where you went to university?
#1
Significantly higher than 20%
 
#2
Around 20%
 
#3
Significantly lower than 20%
 
#4
Don't know
 
#5
Haven't been to university yet
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 21

Author Topic: So apparently college students are really apathetic  (Read 2280 times)
SUSAN CRUSHBONE
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Junior Chimp
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« on: January 29, 2013, 01:02:04 PM »

Yeah, so this week the JuSos have posters up thanking us for over 20% turnout, implying that turnout is typically under 20%.

It's not even as if this was just student-parliament, either; we had a fundamental structural change (re-introduction of the chartered student-body) on the ballot as well.
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Franzl
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« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2013, 01:03:31 PM »

Yeah, so this week the JuSos have posters up thanking us for over 20% turnout, implying that turnout is typically under 20%.

It's not even as if this was just student-parliament, either; we had a fundamental structural change (re-introduction of the chartered student-body) on the ballot as well.

We just voted last week at the Goethe-Uni Frankfurt. Am not aware of any results or turnout yet being released, but under 20% would be relatively normal for us.
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Lief 🗽
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« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2013, 01:04:18 PM »

I always wrote in "Abolish Student Government" on my ballot.
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Alcon
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« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2013, 01:18:04 PM »

I vote, although I don't care.  I rarely know all of the candidates personally, and there's rarely much to on beyond personal reputation.  It's like real politics, but without any of the issues and the candidates don't usually have backgrounds useful in evaluating them.  So it's like real politics but completely stupid.

Not sure about turnout, but I assume low.
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Hash
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« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2013, 01:22:57 PM »

15% in the last election, 11% the year before. Yeah, nobody actually cares about the student elections and most people seem to hate the student fed (for good reason).
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2013, 04:46:27 PM »
« Edited: January 29, 2013, 04:48:05 PM by Californian Tony »

Elections are held in February at Sciences Po. Turnout was 22% last year, 21% in 2011, 28% in 2010, 27% in 2009, 25% in 2008, 28% in 2007 and 25% in 2006. No idea what caused the sharp drop between 2010 and 2011...

I voted last year and the year before, but this time I don't care enough to cast an absentee ballot.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2013, 06:49:21 PM »

Apparently, we've mustered 50.1% in recent election, back in 2006, while 34.5% in 2009 was considered low. Also, in 2010 (44.3% turnout) , we elected a man named Learned Foote president.
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Kitteh
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« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2013, 07:32:12 PM »

You think university students are apathetic? Try community college students. I don't know the actual numbers but the last student government elections had maybe 50ish people voting (that's being generous) out of a campus with almost 20,000 students Tongue
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« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2013, 08:18:04 PM »

Only the fraternity/sorority people voted, and obviously only they won.
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TJ in Oregon
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« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2013, 08:32:38 PM »

In their defense the student government at my undergrad school was marginally more powerful than the Atlasian Senate. If I wasn't friends with half my class officers I probably wouldn't have voted either.
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memphis
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« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2013, 08:47:15 PM »

Nobody cares because the perception is that they have no power. What does a student government do anyway?
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Oakvale
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« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2013, 09:29:31 PM »

I've never bothered voting in student union elections, nope.
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morgieb
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« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2013, 09:54:38 PM »

Only if I knew someone on the ballot. I do for school elections but that's obviously a lot more tight-knit than university.
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King
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« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2013, 10:23:07 PM »

Student government's a joke.  You shouldn't vote for it.
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Oldiesfreak1854
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« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2013, 03:31:47 PM »

I've never voted because I don't know when elections are or what they would do.  I had an aunt however, who was a student body president in college.
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Zanas
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« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2013, 04:24:45 PM »

Elections are held in February at Sciences Po. Turnout was 22% last year, 21% in 2011, 28% in 2010, 27% in 2009, 25% in 2008, 28% in 2007 and 25% in 2006. No idea what caused the sharp drop between 2010 and 2011...

I voted last year and the year before, but this time I don't care enough to cast an absentee ballot.
It was/is much lower in real French universities though. Typically it was around 10% turnout, give or take 2, when I was a student.

This brings back a memory : I once got elected at a replacement seat on the "studies and university life board" (Conseil des études et de la vie universitaire, CEVU, one of the several boards there are) for the Unef (the main left-wing half-wacko half-professionnal politician student union) whereas I had never been a member, just because the people of my political party had a spot to fill in law studies (typically right-wing) and nobody to fill it. They asked me, I said what the hell, got elected, never sat, but took a one year membership card, which I'm not too proud of but hey...

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Kitteh
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« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2013, 10:05:42 AM »

Elections are held in February at Sciences Po. Turnout was 22% last year, 21% in 2011, 28% in 2010, 27% in 2009, 25% in 2008, 28% in 2007 and 25% in 2006. No idea what caused the sharp drop between 2010 and 2011...

I voted last year and the year before, but this time I don't care enough to cast an absentee ballot.
It was/is much lower in real French universities though. Typically it was around 10% turnout, give or take 2, when I was a student.

This brings back a memory : I once got elected at a replacement seat on the "studies and university life board" (Conseil des études et de la vie universitaire, CEVU, one of the several boards there are) for the Unef (the main left-wing half-wacko half-professionnal politician student union) whereas I had never been a member, just because the people of my political party had a spot to fill in law studies (typically right-wing) and nobody to fill it. They asked me, I said what the hell, got elected, never sat, but took a one year membership card, which I'm not too proud of but hey...



University elections have left and right wing political parties in France?

Huh
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Simfan34
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« Reply #17 on: January 31, 2013, 10:36:23 AM »

Ours were also online, so I'm sure that helped.
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Zanas
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« Reply #18 on: January 31, 2013, 11:03:03 AM »

Elections are held in February at Sciences Po. Turnout was 22% last year, 21% in 2011, 28% in 2010, 27% in 2009, 25% in 2008, 28% in 2007 and 25% in 2006. No idea what caused the sharp drop between 2010 and 2011...

I voted last year and the year before, but this time I don't care enough to cast an absentee ballot.
It was/is much lower in real French universities though. Typically it was around 10% turnout, give or take 2, when I was a student.

This brings back a memory : I once got elected at a replacement seat on the "studies and university life board" (Conseil des études et de la vie universitaire, CEVU, one of the several boards there are) for the Unef (the main left-wing half-wacko half-professionnal politician student union) whereas I had never been a member, just because the people of my political party had a spot to fill in law studies (typically right-wing) and nobody to fill it. They asked me, I said what the hell, got elected, never sat, but took a one year membership card, which I'm not too proud of but hey...



University elections have left and right wing political parties in France?

Huh
We don't have parties in university elections, we have student unions.

A large majority of unionized students are left-wing, though some are right-wing.

The main ones are :
- Unef : left-wing from Strauss-kahnian to Mélenchoniste, around 25,000 members (probably less really), they classically win half the total votes of these elections.
- FSE : left autonomists, "gauchistes", a few hundreds
- Sud étudiants : same as above
- Cé : social traitor, one or 2 thousands

Those win all elections in humanities universities.

Then you have two organizations, not unions, regroupment of student corporations, mainly originated in law and medical studies :
- PDE, a few thousands
- Fage, a few thousands
Those two are "apolitical", so they are roughly center-right. They win a lot of elections in medical and paramedical studies, and in a majority of law universities.

And then you have two organizations, not unions either, that are right-wing :
- Uni, two or 3 thousands, connected to the UMP
- Mét, 8,000 (they wish...), recently founded to be independent from UMP, but in fact really tied to it as well

Those two win elections in some hard-core right-wing law faculties, and some votes in other bodies. Uni was a neo-fascist school of life in the 1970s, it's way quieter now.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #19 on: January 31, 2013, 11:48:17 AM »

And business schools?
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HagridOfTheDeep
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« Reply #20 on: January 31, 2013, 12:57:07 PM »

I have a personal contempt for student government. They generally don't anything, when they actually have the power to do something they have no idea what to do, and if they do do something, they just end up wasting money on dumb pet projects.

All student government is is a bunch of overachievers wanting to shake each other's hands, pat themselves on the back, and write something on their resumes. I hate it. It's for this reason that I've had second thoughts about becoming a politician... I can't deal with all the fake handshaking. I've made far more connections with real people by setting up chairs at the church luncheon than I ever could by going around and shaking people's hands.
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« Reply #21 on: January 31, 2013, 04:34:14 PM »

I usually voted but only in a fraction of the races.  one position, 'student trustee', had a real if in practice negligible role in actually governing the university.  something like 1/64.
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