Office Politics

Office politics interest me extremely. Mainly because of the interplay there is between people’s emotions and people’s ambitions.

The elections for student government have been taking place at my school and it’s made the whole campus feel on edge. I guess this is not necessarily office politics, but I work at the school newspaper so it feels that way.

The sole candidates for the executive positions also came by and spoke with us about their platform. The meeting happens every year and the Journal must decided whether or not to endorse a team for the elections. This year, for the first time ever or at least in a very long time, we decided not to endorse.

This year also had the unusual aspect of only one team running for the position. And this team did not get our endorsement so that tells you a little about them. But, this is not really about them and if you want, check out the Journal to see why we chose to say no.

I’m proud of the people I work with. We all made the decision to say no to them. Each person had their own reasons, but for me I was concerned with endorsing a fiscally and socially conservative person for a position of power, that this same person wore brownface when he was younger and posted a video online and that the team was just plain bad.

They gave off the distinct sense of being very personally ambitious people but that’s not really what you need in government. And there are many problems on campus that need addressing, from the safety and peace of mind of people of colour, the environmental impact of our school and how it spends all the money we pay in tuition. For example, the student government controls a budget of around 15$ million.

But, it really seemed like this was a career move, and most of the politicians on campus give off the same whiff. I just couldn’t stand for that and so that’s why I voted not to endorse these people who were essentially self-concern dressed up to pretend it would advocate from any other position than self-concern.

I just wanted to say I love my work and the people I work with. They make me proud to believe in goodness and equality and the freedom to live life free of obstructions.

-Clay