It is hard to take student government elections seriously on this campus.

I have never voted. Nor, until I joined the newspaper staff, did I understand our election process.

Maybe it’s my own ignorance, my own apathetic outlook on extra-curricular activities in college. Or maybe it’s because it takes more than a few posters around campus and the occasional interruption of my classes to get my attention these days.

A community college like Cerritos has natural faults that cannot be overcome by conventional measures. Many students I’ve had classes with are commuters, balancing work, school, family responsibilities and social lives. Their outlook on school is a business relationship.

By nature, these students do not involve themselves with anything outside of attending class and doing homework assignments. These students are less likely to join clubs, participate in seminars, or take an interest in student body affairs. They probably aren’t even reading the paper.

Any good political science major will tell you that this is the audience you need to attract. These are the students you need to rally for, to increase voter turn out. One way the candidates do this is by coming around to classrooms, making speeches, handing out candy, flyers and other knick-knacks donning their ballot number and names. From my perspective, this only aggravates a student more.

When I’m in class, I like to get what I need, get it over with, and get on with it, especially in my evening classes. I do not appreciate anyone coming in to interrupt the flow of lecture. I am trying to get through the three hours as quickly as possible in the hopes that I can make it to bed, or on to other activities in a reasonable amount of time.

But interrupting a class lecture doesn’t have to be the only place you reach students. How about standing in the hallways, making the same speeches and handing out the same flyers as students enter or exit a class. There are numerous days I have waited in a hallway for the class before mine to clear out. That would be an excellent opportunity for a candidate to introduce himself.

We need some creative brainstorming to draw more attention to something as important as student body elections. If it wasn’t for the press releases we get through the newspaper office, I wouldn’t have even known that sign ups for candidates was taking place this month.

Last spring, I was in a political science class, a class where casting your vote is a sacred endeavor. To demonstrate how little press student elections get please note that my instructor didn’t once bring up our student body elections. An event that could be considered the stepping stone for political involvement.

But that is the type of apathy that appears to run rampant on our campus. A lack of interest is amplified by the lack of information. These are the types of events that need to slap you in the face each time you walk out of a classroom. This is a priority one event that should be well planned, well publicized and encouraged.

I would like to see a public debate, or an assembly in the quad where candidates are introduced. Anything that would liven up the event, but that wouldn’t interrupt class lecture. Something creative that would encourage more students to participate.