Trustee Election: What Happened
EAST PEORIA ― Every year, Illinois Central College students elect one of their own to serve on the ICC board of trustees, the group of eight people who truly decide the future of ICC. In the past, this election has, for better or worse, gone largely unnoticed by the student body. This year, though, has been different. For the first time, the election had to be redone. So let’s answer the question on many students’ minds — what happened?
If you don’t already know, I work for the Harbinger — you can find my name on the staff column. I am also currently (for a few more weeks) president of ICC’s Student Government Association. I was right amidst the events of the student trustee election, and while it is not my desire to upset anyone, I want to share with students why we had to hold the election a second time.
The official statement from the college was “The integrity of the voting process was compromised in the Student Trustee election, and due to limitations of the technology utilized, valid and invalid votes could not be determined. A new election will be held on Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, March 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Atrium on the East Peoria Campus will serve as the designated polling location, and all current ICC students are eligible to vote in this election.”
I have heard student speculating about what “this person” or “that person” did that brought about the need for a redo, and I just want to start off by saying that I don’t believe it was anyone’s fault. There is nothing to blame on anyone and just many things to learn.
The issue that arose was this: the rules that ICC had in place that were supposed to insure that every candidate had equal opportunity to win were not clear or up-to-date. The guidelines would have been quite effective when they were written years ago, but they were never brought up to 21-century standards.
Not only could the rules be interpreted differently but they had some very critical “loop holes.” Each candidate was essentially operating by a different standard. This created an unintentionally uneven playing field that made it impossible to determine a winner in the election; a democratic ritual that is meant to be the epitome of equality in our society.
In our world today, though, elections aren’t often revered in the same honorable light that once lit the passion of our forefathers. It is all too common for us to now lose faith in this light of liberty with the slightest hint of corruption, injustice, or even simple unfairness.
I want to use this election as an example for why we all must not only be involved with elections but also care about them and not lose faith in them so easily.
When there is something in our society and, more specifically, our system of government that we feel is not proper, walking by with a passive feeling of silent dissatisfaction and distrust is not a way to “move on.” Our freedom is based around not only a centuries-old set of words on a page, but also the idea that we expect one another to stand up for the equality that we all-too-often take for granted.
That initial trustee election was both unfair and unpleasant, but we made it right in the end by recognizing that there were issues and addressing those issues no matter how uncomfortable the intermediate steps were. Now, we not only have assured the integrity of this election but also that of all future elections. We have changed things!
We are at ICC to better ourselves, and what better way than to foster the potential within us to truly be apart of our freedom and not just observers of it.