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Save Some Brain Juice: A Quick Guide to Elections Fever

2016 has been a whirlwind of a year. Pokemon Go has turned us into walking zombies, Brexit happened against all odds, Trump is the Republican presidential candidate, you survived bidding against the BOSS, summer is over… and now you have to process a school-wide elections fever?


Don’t fret – here’s a handy guide on everything you need to know about Elections Fever.


Is Elections Fever an actual thing?



Elections Fever heats up from the very beginning in Week 1, and starts officially from Week 4, where aspiring student leaders step up in their various Constituent Student Bodies (CBds) to become the next generation of CCA leaders. While the way various CBds run their elections differs, all of them tend to start from Week 4 onwards, making it a school-wide Elections Fever!


What are CBds and how many are there?


Well, this question’s a toughie. First, CBds, or Constituent Bodies represent either CCA clusters or school committees. This means there are four CCA Cluster CBds, and six school CBDs. These are:


CCA Clusters:

- Arts & Cultural Fraternity, or ACF

- Special Interest & Community Service Sodality, or SICS

- SMUXtremists, or SMUX

- SMU Sports Union, or SSU


Schools:

- ASoc (SMU Accounting Society), representing the School of Accountancy

- Bondue, representing the Lee Kong Chian School of Business

- Oikos, representing the School of Economics

- SISS (SMU Information Systems Society), representing the School of Information Systems

- SOSCIETY (School of Social Sciences Society), representing the School of Social Sciences

- The Bar, representing the School of Law


Well…where does SMUSA fit in?


There are two entities – the SMUSA Executive Committee, and the SMUSA Council. Contrary to popular belief, SMUSA as a standalone term refers to the entire undergraduate student population – everyone’s a member of SMUSA!


The SMUSA Executive Committee is headed by students who have been elected by the undergraduate student body (that means you!), and with the SMUSA Council they are the representative student leadership bodies.


The presidents of two entities – the business development arm Bizcom, and ICON which represents the interests of all international students – are inducted into the Council as the Corporate Relations Secretary and the International Students’ Secretary respectively.


The SMUSA Council, or the SAC, is formed with all elected members of the SMUSA Executive Committee, and the 10 CBd presidents. Here they are:



What can I do?


As long as you are a student of SMU, your student life will be shaped by the decisions of these leaders. Here are three things you can do:


1) Get to know your CBd!


Your seniors will probably have a clue on the voting process of the various CBds, so talk to them about how each CBd runs their elections. You can even drop your CBd an email to ask – they’d be happy to help. Talking to seniors would also be useful for another reason – you may have a hint on who’s running and who’s not!


2) Get to know the roles!


What’s a Honorary General Secretary, or what does the Corporate Relations Secretary do? The Elections Committee is helping to trump your ignorance on Facebook and via email, so give them a ‘like’ for all the updates if your email inbox is flooded. For instance, check out what Ada Chua, who was AY2012’s SMUSA President, had to say about what she actually does in her role.



3) GET YOUR VOTE ON.


Once you gather all your information, you are better poised to vote wisely. Make sure you get your vote on, and you’re one step closer to seeing a capable batch of student leaders take the reins! As a freshie, this is a great way to get involved in the vibrant SMU student life, and who knows – from all the excitement you might decide to run for elections yourself next year!




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