With the Student Confederation elections coming up soon, many people are trying to decide if they should run and whom they should vote for. These elections, as they do every year, will shape not only next year but also many years into the future of American University. One of the issues brought up on the campaign trail every single year is school spirit. Candidates promise to increase visible school spirit across the board with many plans - some realistic, some not so much. Most ideas fail miserably or are ignored after the campaign is finished. But one candidate finally lived up to some of his promises.
Say what you will about Polson Kanneth, but he's helped to increase school spirit at AU. Whether or not you agree with his policies in other areas, he has made admirable progress in helping school spirit thrive. Attendance is up nearly across the board, most noticeably at men's basketball games, where the average figures have risen by nearly 200 people per game - along with a significant increase in the decibel level. These increases are appreciated not only by fellow fans, but also by the athletes themselves.
Whether or not you agree with [SC President Polson Kanneth's] policies in other areas, he has made admirable progress in helping school spirit thrive.Kanneth has set the bar far higher for those who will follow him, but in a good way. We can no longer accept the Student Body president who does not show up for sporting events, just like we do not want to accept the University president who fails to do the same.
Our elected officials certainly do not have the time to be at every event, but if our Student Body president cannot at least be a visible fixture at basketball games, why should we believe him when she says she wants to increase school spirit? You don't strengthen school spirit by pushing policies; you strengthen it by setting examples. Improving spirit is as easy as going to games and encouraging others to come with you. Often caricatured by average students as being out of touch with the student body, members of the General Assembly can make significant headway by attending events as well. Regular students go, so why not cut back on a few meetings and spend some time at a game instead? The best way to meet people is to mingle amongst them, and where better to find large groups of students than at a sporting event with more than 1,000 fans?
This year, Screaming Eagles will be hosting an event to meet and greet the candidates. Surely there will be glad-handing and schmoozing, but we're hoping to beyond through that and endorse candidates who truly seek to improve school spirit by becoming (or continuing to be) an active part of the ever-growing spirit movement at AU. School spirit spreads from sports to other areas of campus life, and we firmly believe in putting your money where your mouth is. Regardless of what position you hold or want to hold, or whom you're debating voting for, stop and think. Do you wish we'd increase school spirit, or do you plan to do something about it? Are you planning to talk about it, or act on it? Does your plan involve complicated work on multiple fronts to acquire specific goods and services (such as a football team), or are you thinking of spending a little of your own time attending a sporting event you don't even have to pay for?
I don't mean to imply that Polson is the best Student Body president ever to grace AU, nor do I believe his work is flawless or that he, alone, is responsible for the immense progress we have made. However, he has set an admirable example by putting his school spirit ideas into action. He attends athletic events and encourages his fellow students to do the same. It doesn't cost the school a dime, and it gets the job done. Everyone has seen Polson go crazy at the games, and we in Screaming Eagles hope the next executives will pick up where he leaves off, and not throw in his towel.
Stephen Tucker is a junior in the College of Education and president of the Screaming Eagles.
