This year’s Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) election results exhibit a sharp decline in voter turnout compared to prior years. Only 309 students voted in this election compared to 559 in 2025 and 792 in 2024, just over a 50 and 60 percent decrease in votes, respectively. Of the 2,027 students enrolled at Bowdoin, roughly 15 percent of students voted in this election cycle.

In his May 2025 op-ed “Why student government fails,” former BSG Vice President Elliot Ewell ’27 offered an internal critique of the system. He argued that members are bogged down by internal logistics, the size of BSG and communication with administrators, hampering the efficiency of their work.

“Instead of focusing on student engagement, our most visible members are occupied keeping track of our committees, learning how we work and finding times to meet with administrators. In other words, we have a busy work problem,” Ewell wrote.

These constraints highlight the difference between what BSG could do and what it actually gets done. Increased student body participation can help redirect where BSG has positive effects on campus.

BSG has had some noteworthy wins in recent years: an extended Thanksgiving break, shuttle transportation to Portland for school breaks and the return of Ivies to the Brunswick Apartments quad. These changes, initiatives focused on student life, were met with excitement. There has been a notable lack of new initiatives this year.

Decreasing engagement from the student body has created a destructive cycle: Fewer actionable ideas for change lead to lower participation, resulting in minimal tangible successes and ultimately reducing incentive for students to interact with BSG. This has manifested in the waning number of votes over the past few election cycles.

To break out of this spiral, we hope students will buy back into BSG by voting and sharing their ideas, and we hope our incoming BSG leadership will work to bring the student body together for this work of shared governance.

This editorial represents the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which is composed of Ava Arepally, Greta Colloton, Abdullah Hashimi, Sadie O’Neill, Miles Palmer, Catalina Escobedo and Caitlin Panicker.