I just don’t understand why they made this decision. What’s wrong with people gaining support via the internet? Isn’t that How Things Work Now? I mean, all elections are popularity contests anyway, social media campaigns or not.

So can candidate’s not promote themselves on Twitter either?

@Phillip Good question. I don’t think enough voters know what Twitter is.

I sort of get this, because it’s an attempt NOT to make the election into a popularity contest. I think, like Jess pointed out though, that’s inevitably what they turn into anyway. I know when I’ve voted for Hillel representatives in the past, I always just pick the people I’m friends with. C’est la vie, with or without the Internet.

*I suppose I should note, c’est la vie is my attitude toward this in a school setting, or a social club setting. Picking “the most popular” or the “coolest” candidate for positions in America’s government can be problematic, though many voters obviously do because it’s way easier to like someone because he’s hot than it is to learn about all the issues. I’m guilty of not being as informed as I should be sometimes, too. I guess what it boils down to is how influential you believe the officials you’re electing are going to be. In high school, it doesn’t matter, because it’s not as though the president of your class has the power to create a law that will ban gay people from getting married, send thousands more troops to war, limit women’s health care, etc. In American government, it obviously matters very much. So the REAL question is: where do Hillel elections fall in between those two points!

@Vanessa Very amazing points. I’d like to hope Hillel elections are very important seeing as nearly 30% (6,000) of NYU students are Jews and this is the body that helps them communicate and identify with their roots in a non-denominational way. But I’m not sure if throwing that stat on them is fair.

IMO they shouldn’t have prohibited the use of social media. I view it as the modern version of handing out fliers. I would understand more if the candidates were middle-aged, as not every middle-aged person is familiar with the workings of social media and its potential for campaigning.

What do YOU think Natan?

@Zack I agree with you. To clarify, they weren’t trying to completely ban social media, just the use of creating a single group or event saying “come vote for me.” I don’t really understand why they felt the need to get involved with this at all but I was excited to see the group and then even more excited at the pressure it would put on the other candidates to do the same. Each candidate should be required to create their own groups in the future! So we can publicly question them! Just my opinion .