I know the headline of this column may throw you off at first. This message is a little contradictory to all the vote slogans and chants we all are accustomed to hearing. This past election, we heard things like “Vote or Die,” “Bar-rock the Vote” and various other catchy jingles.

I am not contradicting or discrediting any of those messages. I whole heartily support and condone voting for government offices, but as a senior getting ready to graduate this May and looking back on my four years, I can truly say that I haven’t seen anyone at Student Senate do anything productive for the student community.

Before I begin, let me admit that I too once ran for Student Senate. As a naive sophomore, looking for ways to get involved on campus, I thought Student Senate was the solution.

I had no real idea what I wanted to do in Student Senate or what Student Senate was even capable of. I lost the race, but I was surprised that the people who did win were no more informed than I was. I am not going to lie and say that I am glad I lost because no one likes to lose, but what I will say is that my defeat did allow me to find other more effective ways to get involved on campus.

Even though I was not formally involved in Student Senate, I still managed to get sucked into Student Senate activities. Being a writer for The Daily Illini, I get countless e-mails and phone calls asking me to support people I have never met before. I have received an e-mail from Matt Reschke and Carlos Rosa, both asking me to support them. I even received a phone call from former trustee Chime Asonye asking me to support Dan Weber but at least he did offer to set up a meeting between Dan and I.

Everyone who contacts me cites how they have been involved in student government in the past, but this is the only time I have ever heard of them. That only compounds my reason not to vote for them.

To prove that the majority of candidates are not worth your vote when they come knocking on your resident hall door or stand in front of your student organization ask them “why should I vote for you?”

After they finish with their grand tales of how they will lower your tuition and make the ARC open 24-hours-a-day, ask them this simple follow up question “How?” And make sure you have your cell phone ready so you can take a picture of the look on their face as they scramble to provide a salient answer.

The simple reason that the majority of these candidates can’t even tell you how they will fix the things they talk about shows they aren’t worth your vote.

You are probably asking, “How will not voting for anyone change this?” By not voting you are taking a stand. You are showing student senate is not worth the work people are putting into their campaigns. People will stop trying so hard to run for student senate.

The majority of these candidates are just looking for a resume booster. They are a bunch of “glory-hogs” who like to see their name in chalk and can’t wait to put “Student Senator: elected by 2,000 of my peers” on their resume.

If you take the glory away from the situation and ignore Student Senate, they will probably go away, too. It’s one of the few times that ignoring the problem might work.

Instead, we will get people who actually care about the University and its problems and know how they can fix it.

I advocate voting for the U.S. President and for your federal and state representatives. Also, don’t neglect your local government, too; the mayors of Champaign and Urbana have a lot of influence on things like Unofficial, if that sort of thing is important to you.

I even support voting for the leadership of your student organization because they decide what toppings to put on your pizza.

But what I can’t support is voting for student government. So make a statement by not voting.

Paul is a senior in computer and political science and will not “voto Berto.”