punditry.ca — uncovering DSU elections

Well, it’s that time again. There’s nothing left for candidates to do but hope that their years of work on campus and a frantic week of campaigning will be enough to cause some faint glimmer of recognition as voters skim over the photos on the ballot before they click on buttons randomly in hopes of winning a Samsung Captivate on which to play Angry Birds.

It’s also time to listen to some music from a simpler place and time -  Dalhousie, circa 1947.

When Ezra and I got to drinking, our talk often turned to Dadaism.

We both felt the need to ridicule and reject the “reason” and “logic” of bourgeois capitalist society and believed that only through the introduction of chaos, anger and irrationality into the DSU election process could the union truly reach its full potential. One night, we decided to make it happen.

It was then that we built the first Debogorski.

Thanks to a line of NSERC research funding secured through a secret CASA lobbying effort and the high-tech tools in the machine and fabrication shop hidden deep in the basement of the SUB, we were able to create a marvel of robotics, the Debo1. No mere human could match him in unpredictability, ability to formulate recursive and nonsensical policy or sheer volume.

Most people thought that the Imagine DSU events that year were a way of engaging hundreds of students in charting the future of the union. In reality, they were an elaborate proving ground for our new creation. And he did excellently. Fueled by gallons of “We Proudly Brew,” the Deb-bot distracted, interrupted and scared more students (and university administrators) than we thought possible, giving them all a deeper, more complex understanding of themselves and the union.

We honestly didn’t think the Debotron would last long in his first election before being exposed as a machine, which is why he only ran for Board of Governors.

We were initially concerned that the bot’s antics would lead the other candidates and the electorate in general to shun him. We shouldn’t have worried. Plenty of people treated him like a real candidate. Even when Debo1 threatened members of the executive with physical harm, people just laughed nervously and carried on.

In that first election, the robot was constantly down for repairs, causing it to miss several debates and other campaign opportunities. Overall, however, we were happy with the performance of the prototype.

We also knew that next year we had to up the ante.

Debo2 was the first presidential model. He performed much more reliably and we gradually began to find the right balance in his programming between the crazy outbursts and whacked-out ideas and just enough buzzwords and populist indignation to have him taken seriously by a significant part of the student body.

We further refined the Debogorski throughout its last two elections, slowly tweaking his lounge lizard identification protocols and improving his manifesto-writing capabilities until he became the masterpiece of robotics, psychology, anthropology and art he is today.

At the same time, his constant presence desensitized the electorate to his underlying computer-generated instability.

Now, thanks to John Hillman’s endorsement, Debo4 stands ready to finally win a DSU election and assume the position he was built to inhabit.

150 years of  “rational,” human presidents end tomorrow night and the era of anarchy, madness and, most importantly, growth and understanding begins.

For The Union!

In a rant posted on the NSPIRG website earlier this week titled Attempt to destroy NSPIRG, the group railed against the “right wing members and Councilors of the Dalhousie Student Union” that they claimed were trying to shut them down. The article contained a number of inaccuracies and used the term “right-wing” to describe their opposition five times.

The original version of the page has been deleted, but two revisions have been posted, each with more of the innacuracies corrected and more of the language toned-down. The new postings still imply, however, that the NSPIRG referendum motion is an attempt “to remove all opposition to politically conservative groups on campus.”

This assertion, that everyone involved in the DSU and anyone who questions NSPIRG’s actions, efficacy or accountability is part of a right-wing cabal, has been a constant refrain for the past few years. It’s something I’m damn tired of.

To clear things up, let’s take a look at the last four years of the DSU and the ideologies of those who have created the policies that NSPIRG has all these problems with.

In 2005-2006, the positions that deal with the union’s political side – the President and the VP Education – were held by Ezra Edelstein and punditry.ca stalwart Jen Bond. Jen’s most recent political involvement I know about was working for the more progressive mayoral candidate in the HRM election. Ezra got his start in campus politics on the board of… wait for it… NSPIRG. That’s right, not only did a PIRGer and committed progressive hold the DSU presidency for two of the past four years, but he also served as national chair of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the federal lobby group that NSPIRG hates so much.

In 2006-2007, I took over for Jen. I’m happy to compare my progressive credentials with anyone at NSPIRG. Hell, my current job description includes the line “dedicated to advancing economic, environmental, political, and social justice.”

In 2007-2008, I served as President and Tara Gault became VP Ed. She’s now working for the Liberal party, last I heard on education and poverty relief.

In 2008-2009, Courtney Larkin became president. She’s the definition of non-partisan, which is an incredibly helpful trait for a student leader and lobbyist. Punditry.ca’s own Mark Coffin served as the VP. He got his start in campus politics at SustainDal and is a dedicated environmentalist. I think he may have even voted for the Green Party.

So the ideologies of those in political positions in the union over the past four years have ranged all the way from left-left to centre-left. The DSU may be a lot of things, but it certainly isn’t a right-wing front dedicated to destroying NSPIRG. They’re doing a great job of doing that all on their own.

I’m not quite as brave as John or Lisa, so I won’t publicly wade into the bare-knuckled rumble that is the Snow-Zimmerman presidential race. I would, however, like to offer my opinion on one of the races a little further down the ballot.

The Board of Governors positions require a unique skillset. The best candidates have a good understanding of university procedure and politics, thorough knowledge of post-secondary education policy, and an ability to work with and sometimes oppose administrators and board members who are used to getting their way.

Adam Harris has these skills in spades. During his time as President of the St. FX student union, he and I often discussed strategies for working with our respective boards and administrations and we worked closely on a wide range of education issues including the MOU and the tuition reductions. I was always impressed with his knowledge and abilities.

This photo is from a meeting at a restaurant in Truro where Adam and I and ANSSA vice chair Marc Rodrigue got a commitment from (now former) Education Minister Karen Casey to conduct Nova Scotia’s first review of student financial aid, something that the government followed through on and which led to the creation of the province’s only general need-based grant system.

Adam knows how to get things done and he’s been a passionate voice for student issues. I’m glad that he chose to come to Dal for medical school (hopefully renouncing X forever) and I’m very glad he chose to throw his hat in the ring for this position.

Vote early and vote often. Harris for BoG.

Once on a trip back from Ottawa, I ended up sitting next to Halifax MP Alexa McDonough. We had a great talk about a whole bunch of things, but what I really enjoyed about that conversation was discussing her early political career, her time as the only NPD member in the legislature (and the only woman) and how she managed to build a party that is now on the verge of becoming Nova Scotia’s government. One of the things I found most interesting was that her long provincial and federal career could have ended before it really began. During her third run for the provincial legislature in 1988, she held on to her seat by only 24 votes.

A few months later, at a PC event, (tip to student lobbyists: going as an observer to events held by every party is one of the absolute best way to push your agenda. That’s how Jen Bond ended up being selected by the NDP to make the official report to the party convention about what their membership thought about post-secondary education policy, and how we started a bit of an intra-party fight in the PCs about tuition and the MOU) I got to talking with an old party hand who had managed the campaign of the candidate who came in second to Alexa in that 1988 campaign.

This guy said that during that race he had staked out a new apartment complex as having the perfect demographics for gaining some PC supporters and told the candidate to be sure to spend some time there. Because the residents there were all new to the riding, he also thought it might be missed by the other parties. On election night, his candidate admitted that he never got around to going door-to-door in the area.

On a whim after the election, the campaign manager stopped by the complex and knocked on a few doors. He learned that no candidates had come by during the election and that most of the residents hadn’t voted. A few hours of canvassing there could have easily netted another 24 votes. If that PC candidate had found the time, recent political history in Nova Scotia and Canada could be very different.

This story is a long way of giving the following advice to this year’s candidates: go hard until the end. You have until 8pm tonight to make a difference in this race. Don’t miss an opportunity and don’t get complacent.

If you think you’ve won, you’ve already lost.

I’m not in Halifax, so I can’t offer blow-by-blow debate recaps or scary photos of Mark Coffin, but I have participated in a few heavily-contested DSU elections, so perhaps I can give some idea of what goes into a good campaign, and what to look for if you’re trying to predict this year’s outcomes.

Also, if you ever plan to run for a DSU office, particularly an executive position, you might find this useful.

Many, perhaps most, DSU campaigns are won or lost long before the actual campaigning ever begins. How well you’re known on campus (or on facebook), what links you have to well-represented student groups, and your knowledge of the portfolio of the position you’re running for and ability to craft a compelling message around it are all determined months or years before anyone casts a ballot. Shannon Zimmerman, for instance, has been interested in running for President for three years now. I’m sure that will show in the professionalism of her campaign.

Almost as important, however, is what you do in the few weeks right before the election. This is when you put your campaign team together, design your website and your materials, and plan your tactics and strategy.

During this period, you (or one of your campaign aides with OCD) should also be building the heart of your campaign, your excel spreadsheet.

Time is your most important resource during campaign week. You want to maximize every second. No matter how well-known your opponent is on campus, they can’t possibly be personal friends with more people than you can talk to in a week, and if you plan your time better than they do, you can gain a lot of ground.

I maintain that class talks are the best possible use of your time. The vast majority of students that vote aren’t going to be well-versed in the issues or candidates, and actually seeing someone, in person, (not this newfangled YouTubery) give a one minute (never a five minute) speech can easily be a deciding factor when they make their choice for your position.

For both of my executive campaigns, I scoured the Dal timetable and built a list of one class for almost every half-hour block, all week. I went for both the largest classes and a good mix of disciplines and years so that I wasn’t talking to the same people more than I had to. I then emailed all the profs for permission, and if I heard back that a certain class wasn’t open for a talk, I had enough time to replace it on my list with one that was. (Also be sure to take into account the time it takes to get from one end of Dal to the other.) I also added in all the debates and society events that I planned to attend (and my own courses).

By the time elections come, you’ve got a full schedule and you never have to waste time trying to convince a prof to let you speak or annoy your fellow candidates by tagging along to their talks.

It will also guarantee that you’re spending time with students all over campus (did you guys know there are night classes in the basement of Fenwick) and not just hanging out in the SUB.

You’ll also have an incredibly valuable commodity. One that candidates in other races will be very interested in getting their hands on, and willing to provide all kinds of introductions, low-key endorsements and other logistical and political help in exchange.

For the candidates who are running right now and don’t have a good schedule, two bits of advice: 1. take some time every night and plan out your next day in as much detail as you can and 2. find out who does have a solid list, and make a new friend.