Gannon University’s Student Government Association recently released the candidates who will be running for executive board offices in SGA. It turns out that almost every single candidate for office runs unopposed.

The only candidates who have competition are the guys gunning to be the head honcho, or the president. So unless a majority of the university decides to write in a different candidate for a specific office, it’s pretty obvious who will comprise most of the board next year.

Some Gannon students and professors may see this as the decline of democracy among our student population; some might think it’s due to the complacency of our generation. Others simply don’t care – which may in turn back up the second argument.

Neither of these are entirely true.

Our country models a form of democracy and every year you see each electoral representative duke it out to become president, senator, governor, etc. On the rare occasions when a candidate ran unopposed, they were elected automatically.

Also, our age group shouldn’t be seen as complacent, but as you go through school, you learn to prioritize the organizations you’re involved in. Perhaps many of the SGA members decided to put other responsibilities higher on their list.

We are, first and foremost, students and that should never be forgotten.

Regardless, the lack of interest in running for office does present a problem for the student body. It loses its ability to choose who it wants to run its government.

Perhaps next year, this will be enough to get SGA members more motivated to run for office.