An open letter to Brock University students

Dear Brock University undergraduate students;

While watching late night television the other evening, a commercial for a community college in the United States came on. The commercial focused on the various programs that the college offered, as well as how important it was for youth to seek out meaningful and practical post-secondary education. Pretty standard as far as community college promotional videos go. After the pleasantries, however, the commercial launched into a punk-rock inspired jingle and acid induced graphics to really drive home applying to their specific institution; an obvious attempt at targeting the 18 to 25-year-old market that they are hoping will apply to one of their many programs.

Now, I'm not one to suggest that targeting specific age groups with stereotypical music and graphics is a flawed marketing ploy, (think of any fast food chain's commercial, and how they seem to have recently discovered that sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humour is arguably the best way to encourage 18 to 25-year-olds — who have the most personal disposable income — to consume their product) but the commercial was border-line offensive. Surely said community college understands that all individuals applying to their institution are at, or above, the age of majority (18-year-old in the United States, and just one year older in most provinces in Canada), a time at which the individual is considered an "adult" by law.

Adults, one might assume, have a different mind-set as to what is important, and are wise to the antics of most, if not all, marketing companies. I sincerely doubt that any adult (again, anyone over 18-years-old) would watch that commercial and think, "Nah, I'm ok with playing video games all day – HOLY SHIT! THAT JINGLE AND THOSE GRAPHICS WERE SO BAD ASS! I need to apply there to get a bad ass diploma!"

Adults don't think that way, specific community college. The majority of us know what is important in life and we understand the course our academic and professional careers need to take in order to be successful, engaged members of society. Stop insulting us with your electric guitar riffs and animated gifs.

Yet, I have to wonder if I am the ignorant one in this particular scenario. Being at the tail end of the 18 to 25-year-old market, perhaps I am out of touch with what "young adults" respond to these days. Maybe the only way to get said demographic to respond to any kind of message is by book-ending it with sweet tunes, bright colours and mono-syllabic words: Pump up the visual appeal, dumb down the actual message, right?

"Young adults" have short attention spans when it comes to things they actually enjoy, let alone things that are important, right? "Young adults" would rather spend their time doing things they enjoy, like not getting an education or participating in the local community, so the "grown-ups" have to work extra hard to get them to listen, right?

Regardless of whether or not I'm the ignorant one, I honestly have trouble believing that all individuals encapsulated in my demographic have shut off their brains to anything that isn't bright, loud, exciting and under three minutes in length. We're intelligent, engaged, critical, compassionate and the leaders of tomorrow – certainly the vast majority of us have a pretty firm grasp on reality and know when it is important to tune in.

So, I now turn my attention to you, fellow Badgers. You're intelligent, engaged, critical, compassionate and the leaders of tomorrow, and you have a very important task in front of you this week as voting for next year's Brock University Students' Union (BUSU) Executive, Board of Directors and two referenda questions which will take place between Feb. 14 and 16.

Get informed and vote.

There; no technicolour flash, no sweet guitar riffs and only one word with more than one syllable (I have to try and level the playing field in case I'm completely off the mark in my assumptions).  There are numerous ways you can get informed – by reading this paper, you're already well on your way. BrockTV also has excellent comprehensive election coverage (www.brocktv.ca), the BUSU Web site has links to all of the candidate's individual Web sites (www.busu.net/elections) and all the candidates are available to speak with you at their campaign tables located throughout the school.

You have no excuse not to vote – you are a valued member of this school's community, and, more importantly, you pay to be here. Surely you would like to have some say as to who is handling your money, and what exactly is being done with it. Don't feel like any one of the candidates addresses your needs and concerns? Fine – you're certainly not the only one. But, simply ignoring the elections and not voting is not the solution to your problem. You're better than that. You owe it to yourself to make your voice heard and bring your concerns to the table. Sure, you're only here for four-or-so years, or maybe you aren't returning to Brock next year so you don't care who is elected into office. To put it bluntly and to avoid digressing to a completely different editorial, that's stupid. Four years is a long time, and the reputation of the institution you graduate from will follow you for the rest of your life, so it would be to your benefit to ensure it is a good one.

Badgers, 2,651 of us cast a vote last year. Even double that is still not a strong representation of the Brock undergraduate population. We're better than that.

Sincerely,

-    Katherine Gottli