The optimist in me would like to believe that the General Assembly aims to attract as large a cross-section of the student population as possible. The realist in me wonders why SSMU would schedule the GA early on a Wednesday afternoon, during class hours, when many students (surprise surprise) are attending class. Sure, I would love to attend the GA, make my voice heard, and do all the things the advocates of “student democracy” tell me I should be doing; but I am here at McGill as a student, so attending classes is sort of my job. I understand that SSMU probably tries to schedule the GAs in an efficient manner, but do they truly think it’s a coincidence that the most well-attended GA in recent history was held in the evening last winter semester?
Maybe it’s still the optimist in me that thinks this, but I sincerely hope that this decision is simply a lack of thought on the part of SSMU, and not an attempt to keep the decision-making ability (as limited as it is) in the hands of those who can afford to sacrifice part of class time to participate in a glorified argument.
Zach Margolis
U2 Arts & Science Environment