Why we should get 'in-the-know'

Do you know what goes on in your JCRC?

Yes, she's running for a JCRC position.

And so it's that time of year again. The time of year when people resort to cheesy slogans that they would normally realise would make any sane person want to retch, dress up in increasingly silly or impractical costumes and talk about campaign strategies all day (even at two in the morning, as I observed on a late-night walk through campus). In a way, its even worse than the YUSU elections last spring, given that all college elections are kicking off at around the same times. That's seven times the ridiculousness!

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the elections or the slogans or the silly costumes. Many hours of beautiful procrastination have been spent watching people campaign and silently (or not so) applauding the more ingenious and the more courageous. It's fun and it's for a good cause.

Or is it?

On speaking to a number of friends, it seems a significant number of students aren't really bothered about their JCRC. While this college committee is supposedly integral to the running of the college and is clearly vital for college events, it seems a lot of students aren't even sure what the JCRC does, let alone who's on it. I remember last year, in my first year, I was only aware of member s of my college JCRC on account of my involvement with the yorker – in helping to cover last years' elections, I gathered a knowledge of the elected committee that has served me well.

In explaining who's who to other students that is.

But why this lack of interest?

Well, JCRC elections have been described as “rather boring” by more than one student I've spoken to, and many students (including myself to an extent) can't seem to shake off the feeling that the JCRC election is simply a popularity contest of the sort most of us despised at secondary school. In at least one college, I know that the majority of the committee were formed from one accommodation block. One. Most candidates from other blocks didn't appear to get a look in, given the cliquey nature of those applying. On the one hand, it reminds me far too much of the day my sixth form committee was voted in: I watched the pretty and the popular get elected, and sighed.

Yet on the other hand, those were the people who wanted to do the job. I certainly didn't want to do it – therefore who was I to judge who should or shouldn't run? I like my college, but I have absolutely no inclination to help run it – my interests lie elsewhere – and so I can't complain about who gets in.

All I can do is vote for the person I most want that to be. But here's the clincher – most students will forget to vote until the last day. They won't take time over their voting, alerted only by Facebook newsfeeds that anything is going on at all if they spend most of their time off campus. When I vote, I'm determined to spend time reading the information on the YUSU website that each candidate submits – after all, they've spent the time putting it up, I think the least we can do is bother read it. And we should take the time to get to know our JCRC once they are elected, if only to know the welfare officers. Saying that, the JCRCs themselves could do more to get themselves noticed and remembered: the blame isn't completely in our laps. I remembered my welfare officers his last year because I still have a condom in my wallet with their names printed on it – whatever works!

I know it's easy to think that, actually the whole reason we're electing a JCRC is so that we don't have to know what goes on – we're electing them to do it for us, therefore we're excused from any involvement or responsibility. Another view is that all actual policies are pretty much the same and it doesn't matter who we vote for – things are going to keep running as they always have, whether or not we vote “Max” for ents rep, or “Emma”. But these people are trying to grab our attention: it may not matter to us, but it matters to them who we vote for.

And considering they're going to do a load of work that we don't want to do, I reckon the least we can do is care.

So as long as these people keep dressing up and trying to grab my voting-attention, I'm more than happy to give it to them.

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