Politics, a democracy of ideas and Owen

Recently, the OSGA elections were postponed due to an issue in the voting process. Though not the end of the world, many people are upset at this apparent lapse and are calling for alternate voting methods. Indeed, when you create a student-driven MBA environment like we have here at Owen, elections for leadership positions like student government are bound to take on heightened importance. The challenge is to figure out just how much democracy you care to stand.

Coming from an undergrad experience at one of the most politically active universities in the nation, I can tell you that democracy can get messy. In fact student government elections were like something out of a Stanley Kubrik movie. There were years administrators had to literally take blue tape to every building on campus to restrict where candidates could hang their posters.

Luckily enough, we are a bit more level-headed here at Owen. Or so we like to believe.

It appears that this snafu in the voting process has some people worried that if the situation gets too political, it may shatter the collaborative culture for which Owen is known. The trouble with that is as we see the rise of the next wave of business leaders, we are also going to see a new democracy emerge with it; a democracy of ideas.

In that democracy, when it comes time to chose leadership to implement those ideas, politics in the process inevitable. The best any of us can do is create forums to express those ideas, ensure a fair and transparent voting/selection process and then be willing to step back and watch grassroots business take shape.

Now, I am not going to claim that I have the silver bullet to this problem. I doubt anyone does. What I can say, however, is that the moment you stop fearing politics you start focusing on ideas. The best we can hope for in this situation is that the re-voting process is speedy, transparent and most importantly, that the participants assert that they are in it for the ideas, not the process.

When it comes to offering a democracy of ideas through student leadership, Owen is on the leading edge. Our job is to be responsible practitioners of that ideal and, in the process, take the mantle of a whole new way to lead.

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