Why Wait for 2012?

The excitement of the presidential election is in the air now!!  Well, at least it is at the Ricks Institute...

That's right - this week is the week of student body president elections here at Ricks.  But the elections here are not at all like they are in the US.  There are no enormous poster boards or hot pink fliers claiming free coke machines, later school start times, and better food in the cafeteria.  There is a real system here; it's a process, and the students are enthusiastically committed to it.

First, students don't just decide to run.  The student must first be a member of a political party on campus.  From what I gather, new political parties are constantly forming at the school.  In the current election, there are 5 political parties: the Students Unification Movement (SUM), Ricks Institute Student Alliance Movement (RISAM), Students with Active Purpose Movement (SWAPO), Ricks Unification Party (RUP), and Students for Democratic Change (SDC).  Each of these group names bears a striking resemblance to the names of the political parties in Liberia.

Each political party then elects a student to be their party representative in the presidential election.  But before that student's name can be added to the ballot, they must first collect signatures on a petition (either 100 or 200, I can't remember) to run for president.  Once the signatures are collected, then that person is officially a candidate on the ballot!  The candidate is then given $25 (US) for campaign expenses.  They must carefully document each penny of how the campaign money is spent.  One of the candidates, for example, spent his money on popcorn and cokes to hand out to the students at Saturday movie night.  I was pretty happy with that choice!  Some of the students spend their money on t-shirts or posters for their campaign, and many buy paint, pens, paper, etc., to help them do their campaigning.

After all this initital campaigning, the candidates must face off in a debate before the whole school.  Each candidate gets 6 minutes to talk, after which their competitors (or their running mates) are given the chance to ask questions (up to 3 total) and then the audience (student body) is given a chance to ask up to 4 questions.  The candidates can respond however they want. 

The speeches were impressive.  Each student formally greeted their audience, introduced their political party including their major beliefs and reasons for formation.  Some reasons I heard included: "here to bring justice, peace, and equality"; focus on student leadership; "leading the wind of change in transforming the school"; "elevate standards to complement diversity"; and "grassroots political movement committed to change".  Students then discussed their qualifications for being the student body president as well as the changes they hoped to bring to Ricks Institute if they were elected.  Dreams included promoting agriculture and sanitation, working toward 2 building projects in the boys' and girls' dorms, providing more student leadership in tutoring and academic assistance, building relationships with schools in Monrovia and in the States, providing a student lounge/game area, creating a web page for students, and even creating a Ricks FM student led radio station.  Yet none of these dreams seemed to be empty campaign promises - they all seemed like goals the students would be working toward with or without the title of student body president. 

If the speeches weren't impressive enough, the questions asked by the other candidates and student body were equally intelligent, thoughtful, and insightful.  Students brought up the candidates records on campus ("how can you lead if you can't keep yourself out of trouble?"), their political histories ("why did you leave one political party and form your own only when you weren't selected as the presidential candidate for that party?"), or their plans for the future ("how will you realistically accomplish such big dreams?"). 

My favorite question might have come from a boy in the third grade class: "Can you sing the second stanza of the school song and the chorus?"  At first his question was dismissed; but Olu fought for the question to be answered.  The candidate put on the spot indicated that he didn't have time to answer that question... But we later learned from Olu that the question was actually not as silly as it sounds.  It seems that some members of the Liberian government do not know the whole national anthem, and it can be embarrassing to have a representative of the country fumble the country's anthem.  So, it would be important for a student body president to know the school's ode (especially when parts of it are sang each morning).

Like any political debate, the 2.5 hours was filled with LOUD cheering, jeering, and overall excitement about the political process.  Obviously I was excited to be present and be a part of all of this.  For those who don't know, I study youth civic involvement in some of my psychological research, so this is SO in line with my interests!  I could go on for much longer, as I'm sure you can tell... but I'll wrap up by saying I am excitedly looking forward to the elections tomorrow and the celebrations of the victorious party that are sure to follow!  I can't wait to see how the new president carries out his/her responsibilities throughout the next year!

Check out pictures of all the excitement: http://picasaweb.google.com/holly.wegman/ThingsHappeningAtRicksInstitute#