You want me to care?

Actually, that is not a fair question. Given that it is my job as editorial editor to care, I may not be the best example (the fact I’m a self-admitted nerd when it comes to politics, seg fees, constitutional law, and other issues pertaining to student government does not help matters either).

Still, my attitude regarding ASM is all too often one of exasperation and disgust. I can completely understand why 87.8 percent of students do not even bother to register any emotion (or votes) at all. This is not a surprise.

What is surprising is that you people cannot figure it out. You bemoan student apathy and campaign to get students involved, but you never get results. Students do not care, and I am going to tell you why.

When I first moved out of the dorms, I purposely sought an apartment on the edge of campus. Like many students, my parents were unable to give me much help financially, so I not only needed a less expensive place to live, but I also needed parking for my pizza-delivery job. I certainly could not afford an additional $90 a month for a stall!

Unfortunately, this had a literal chilling effect on late-night study sessions at the library — to be precise, I froze my rear end off if I walked. So I usually drove, dutifully plugging the meter under Helen C. White. I always did think it was ridiculous that the university made me pay when most staff and faculty were long gone.

Then your predecessors at ASM actually got me excited about the organization; last spring a SAFEPark campaign was launched to make parking near libraries and other areas of student interest free after 5 p.m. Their rationale was safety during late-night walks — admittedly, a more compelling one than my frozen posterior — and after the Herald endorsed the idea, it looked like it just might become reality.

But we all know what happened. You people decided you just did not have time to lobby for SAFEPark — maybe you were trying to solve world hunger, I’m really not sure — and the UW Transportation Committee actually made parking lots near libraries and other areas of student interest less accessible.

I was pissed. Being able to drive to libraries was something I cared about. It affected my daily life. You people could have done something to help me out, yet you did not even try. Why should I care about — or vote for — an organization that is completely disconnected from my everyday life? It almost made me want to drink away my sorrows.

Speaking of drinking, if there is one concern shared by every student on campus, it is that (even if you do not drink, I know you know people who do). Every student, that is, except you people on ASM. The ongoing debate regarding drink specials is well documented; your position on the matter is not. Not a single one of you has appeared at a city hearing to speak on the potential drink-special ban.

I do not care if you people support or oppose the ban (well I do, but that is besides the point). But I do care that a group supposedly representing me and my welfare has absolutely no interest in addressing one of my biggest concerns. If you do not care about me, why should I care about you?

One thing I do care about is the value of my degree. I am graduating in a mere 17 days (excuse me while I panic), and I happen to have big goals for my life. I plan on brandishing my diploma when I apply to graduate schools and when I get my first job, and I hope it has a positive effect.

Yet you people only care that my diploma is obtained as cheaply as possible. When the state Legislature was slashing the UW budget, you had a rally complaining that the 8 percent tuition cap was too low. I heard scarce mention of the millions of cuts in state funding; it goes without saying none of you were smart enough to see the long-run value in paying a little extra to ensure the quality of our degrees. I really do not see the point of diverting the time from my job search to vote for an organization that seemingly wants to make my future job searches more challenging.

Small wonder I do not care (well, I do, but I addressed that at the beginning). Parking at the library, banning drink specials, the value of my degree — these are the sort of everyday things that matter to me. But as long as you do not care about the same things I do, I will not care about you. Something tells me 87.8 percent of students feel the same way.

Ben Thompson ([email protected]) is senior majoring in political science.