It’s Georgetown University Student Association election season again and the Hilltop looks about the same as it always does — banners duct-taped in Red Square, neon fliers everywhere, and, as usual, only a small percentage of campus seems tocare. Last year, voter turnout was a record high, but still less than 50 percent of undergrads participated. Maybe having a basketball player on the ballot this year will make that number spike, but I sincerely hope that isn’t why people take 30 seconds out of their day to click a link in an email this Thursday.

Why should you vote this year? Georgetown is at a crossroads: The neighbors aren’t our biggest fans, the crime rate has increased, the SAC funding process is unraveling, student space is less adequate than ever and many university resources are rotting away, unused behind a wall of red tape. But with these challenges come opportunities.

Whoever students choose to lead GUSA next year will have the power to effect real change. It is hard to ignore the diversity in experience among candidates on this year’s executive ballot. Many say that being an insider means being a part of an organization that has a history advocating for itself rather than the student body. Only an insider, however, has the knowledge and experience necessary to efficiently achieve results. Being an outsider, on the other hand, can result in ideas that are far-fetched, or recycled failures. Yet, an outsider has the unique benefit of a truly fresh perspective, with no qualms about affecting a legacy. Charlie Joyce and I are the only team with the dynamic advantage of having someone from each side.

As The Hoya’s Editorial Board said last Friday, Charlie and I are uniquely qualified for this job. His experience in GUSA is a useful practicality check on my ambitious, creative perspective. I, on the other hand, will bring to the position the viewpoint of an active student outside the ranks of GUSA’s old guard. Our ticket’s balance of experience and fresh perspective means that while we won’t follow GUSA’s current trajectory without asking questions, we won’t come up against the challenge of finding out that our ideas are impractical or unfeasible.

The next GUSA executives must work as a team. They should be visionaries of a better Georgetown in the long term, but must also be willing and able to do the legwork necessary to make daily campus life easier. They must understand the ins and outs of the current system, but they also must ask the right questions and challenge the process when there is room for real change. They must remember that they are advocates for the entire student body and that their initiatives will impact the lives of their current classmates, as well as future students. They cannot take themselves too seriously, but they absolutely have to take their job seriously.

Charlie and I fit that mold. We have exciting ideas, but we know students have more. We will be in constant contact with the student body to make sure that we are acting as real representatives of its interests and concerns. We will sustain and expand some of the initiatives of past administrations while working to better act as legitimate advocates for students.

We don’t want to undertake expensive projects that will only help a few; We want to make Georgetown more manageable for each current and future student. From supporting SAC reform to optimizing student space, and from making a forum for students to arrange housing switches when they go abroad to working with the administration to ease town-gown relations, Charlie and I will hit the ground running to make a real impact on student life at Georgetown. We will not lose the momentum of the previous administration.

This Thursday, every Georgetown student will get an email that gives him or her the opportunity to choose a new set of GUSA leaders for 2011-2012. Some will think it’s a joke or a popularity contest. Many simply won’t make the effort to vote. But I hope that every student will take 10 minutes to look at the issues, analyze the platforms and make an informed decision — because it matters. Once you’ve done that, I think you’ll choose to express your belief in the ticket that will actually listen to you, challenge the process and deliver real results. Vote Joyce-Lovejoy.

Paige Lovejoy is a junior in the School of Foreign Service and is running for GUSA vice president. Her running mate for GUSA president, Charlie Joyce, is a junior in the College.