With only 608 students voting in this year’s ASG election, it has been proven again that student involvement at CMU is still low. With the poor turnout by the people who attend this school, it makes it hard for clubs and organizations to reach their goal, whether it comes to making money or spreading their message.

One of the hottest topics around campus over the past few weeks has been spending the extra money to bring in a big-name band to perform on campus. With money being the big issue, other questions are forgotten about when and if the bill is pushed through. The question is who’s going to show up and watch? We have had popular music groups perform in the University Center Ballroom, The Cab and Andy Grammar, and the numbers were low for those concerts. Obviously, a bigger band would bring in more people, but how much more? With the recent track record of attendance at campus events, you can’t trust a big jump numbers wise with people showing up.

It goes a lot farther than concerts. Sporting events lack a big student fanbase, no matter what venue or what team. Other than men’s basketball, the student section is always bare and usually filled up by kids from around town. Suplizio Field opened up after many renovations this past Friday with 2,4641 people coming through it’s gates. The very next day with two baseball games happening, under 700 fans showed up, a lot of those being parents and family members. With the lack of attendance at games, teams and the athletic department lose out on extra money brought by the people who buy merchandise and food at the concessions stands.

Students at CMU need to realize quickly that their involvement means so much more than just a big turnout. With the elections, the people that ran for office have a big impact on the future of this campus. We’ve seen ASG have a say in helping make a small college into a University and we can expect more big changes coming with the rapid growth. That alone should get people motivated to vote since it’s their future. With concerts, a bigger turnout shows organizations on campus that taking chances on big things could pay off.

We are trying to compare ourselves with those on the campuses of University of Colorado and Colorado State University. The biggest difference is that their students show up to events, regardless of what it is. If we can get more involved here, then we can have the nicer things that other colleges get.