In USC student government, where are the women?

[jsr]

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-usc-elections-20140216,0,4535643.story

In USC student government, where are the women?
Since 2006, every candidate for USC student body president has been male, and almost all winners have been fraternity members.
By Jason Song
February 15, 2014, 6:56 p.m.

James White hesitated before deciding to run for USC student body president, knowing he'd be a long shot because of his background.

Because he's black?

"No, not that," White said, adding that race isn't the biggest deal in campus presidential elections. "It's other forms of diversity that aren't appreciated."

White was referring to this: Only a few presidents have been racial minorities since 2006, but almost all have been part of a Greek organization, and every single one has been male. There hasn't even been a female presidential candidate during that time.

[msongs]

1. possibly because nobody really cares about student body pres except fraternities lol nt

[Igel]

2. No female candidates?

Sorry, no sympathy. Getting a nomination is easy enough. Even if the PTB don't like the idea of women involved, you pick up the form, get it signed by enough people to withstand bad information challenges, and return it. You're a candidate.

Winning is a different matter. For that you have to have your game on. Frats and sororities have an edge: If there's a Greek candidate and the Greek organizations rally behind him (usually it's a him) then they have a bunch of member voters queued up in no time flat and can even get their members to campaign quietly among friends and acquaintances. Other student groups, if they're even aware of the elections, may have their own candidate for some office or spot that they're pushing for and ignore the president position or they're smaller than the Greeks and can't muster the same turn-out.

It's a kind of principle that is common even in high-order politics. Unions often have GOTV drives. They're organized, and if the union organization is tight with its membership then it's easy to get members out to vote.

Most stu govs don't do much anyway. They're sort of student-activities coordinators and sponsors.