Dear Carleton undergrads,
Congratulations! You win — the award for the most pathetically apathetic group of students, that is.
A whopping 846 of you voted on the U-Pass referendum question last week. That’s 846 out of around 20,000 full-time undergraduate students, about five per cent of you. You sure showed democracy who’s the boss, didn’t you?
Like it or not, the U-Pass will be back next year, with 635 students voting in favour of it, 200 voting against it, seven ballots spoiled and four ballots rejected.
Some of the blame for this abysmal turnout can be attributed to advertising.
During the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections in February, it was impossible to escape reminders of the race. This wasn’t the case with the referendum.
But poor advertising can’t take all the blame. The U-Pass isn’t a new issue. Everyone should have known it was coming. And with polling stations across campus, everyone can take 30 seconds to vote.
To those opposed to the U-Pass, maybe there are fewer of you than it may have seemed. Maybe the majority of undergraduate students really do support the U-Pass. Or maybe a lot of students oppose the U-Pass, but they simply didn’t vote.
All we really know is 200 people voted against the pass, and while they can complain, the “no” camp doesn’t have much of a case anymore.
To the thousands who didn’t vote, you have no right to complain. With an issue that affects every student, every student needs to make the effort to vote.
We’re disappointed in you, Carleton.
