Take the student body presidential race for example. First, fun sayings and slogans are cute, but they do not tell us anything substantial. Whether you want to "Restore Carolina" or "Amplify Carolina," we need to know what you stand for. High platitudes are okay for a time, but not when it comes down to business. This year, with impending budget cuts, the new SG officers had better get down to business or else suffer ill repute and criticism. As long as candidates exclusively depend on fun sayings, no one in the student body will take student government seriously.
Second, endorsements are nice but never necessary and rarely helpful. The truth is, getting endorsements from popular figures says only one thing: those popular figures were fooled into giving endorsements. Candidates, please remember: if you get an endorsement, tell us why we should listen to that person. Getting athletic endorsements is nice, but are they involved with Student Government?
Thirdly, USC is a large institution and SG matters. It is no longer your high school popularity contest, people. If any one knows this, it is the current executive officers. Why else do you think they make over $14,000 in all? It is a job and you had better give us a resume before we hire you.
Finally, to our SG candidates, we are already seeing the telltale signs of unsubstantiated rhetoric void of issues. To our voters — go to the platform for your choice of president. If a candidate says either too much (as in, what he says is simply infeasible) or too little (as in, he does not make any concrete proposals), then maybe he should not be president. And remember: read every word of every candidate's website, Facebook page, etc. This election matters, and we're no longer in the little leagues.