The elections concluded last week with the uncontested election of CSA President-Elect Duer and Treasurer-Elect Duane. Despite the best turnout in years, the Carletonian titled “Uncontested Race for CSA President Points to Apathy in Students.” Few things are constant in life, but we can be confident in saying students will always blame other students for being apathetic.

Here is an excerpt about CSA written by Carleton Archivist Eric Hillemann, written in 1991:

It has been quite common for at least one of the three major offices in the CSA (President, Vice President, and Treasurer) to be taken by an unopposed candidate.  Less frequently have there been two positions with unopposed candidates.  In the past ten years, there have been a half-dozen elections with two unopposed candidates for office, and this year, all three positions were unopposed (for the first time?  Possibly).

Students have been complaining in the Tonian about apathy towards elections and lack of Senate-Student Body communication for about twenty-five years.

That statement is as true today as it was when it was written 18 years ago. Every year a new class of students comes in ready to criticize each other for not being engaged. I did the same thing right on this blog.

Student life, like samsara, is cyclical.

If there is one defining aspect of student life, it is that you only do it once. The student body is driven by its constant regeneration; perpetually invigorating the leadership with new blood while robbing it of its experience. In some ways, it reflects the Buddhist cycle of rebirth, samsara.

As Robert Michels writes, “The democratic currents of history resemble successive waves. They break ever on the same shoal. They are ever renewed. This enduring spectacle is simultaneously encouraging and depressing.”