A visit from a political journalist opened my eyes to something that should be very upsetting to this student body.
Tim Skubick, a long time Lansing journalist, spoke to a crowd of about 90 people last week on campus, and asked what should not have been tough questions.
“Do you know who’s running for governor?” Skubick asked three or four students.
All of them answered with slight shame: “No.”
It’s OK to not like politicians. It’s fine have a distaste for politics. There’s no shame in that. I hate politics. Whether they be Washington politics or the politics of who gets to pitch in a Little League game based on the dad that’s running the team. What’s disturbing is when the bright young minds of Ferris, four weeks from an election, don’t raise their hands when asked who is running for governor.
Skubick next asked who was running for Senator.
The humming of the ventilation system became deafening in that moment.
One student in the room answered to both questions. The few faculty in the room seemed to have a grip on the election.
Apart from those lone people, roughly 70 students were unaware or at least weren’t showing they were aware of the candidates.
These candidates directly affect you.
In 2011, Republican Governor Rick Snyder cut higher education spending by 15 percent.
Snyder has since worked on reinvesting the money in higher education which institutions have optimism about, though Democratic candidate Mark Schauer, pledged to restore funding completely and immediately.
I hope you know to be skeptical of politicians, but willing to listen.
These issues can directly affect how much you pay to go to college. Shouldn’t you vote for at least whoever will make that easier for you? Don’t we have enough financial issues as it stands?
If you don’t participate, you don’t get to complain.