Alyssa Gregory With the new Student Union constitution coming into effect next year, it is crucial that next year’s SU executives have the strength and leadership abilities to guide the student government through its transition period.
This year, two slates of candidates, Connect and Connections, are running for the four executive positions. Based on interviews of each slate conducted by the editorial board, Student Life endorses the following candidates: Michelle Miller, president; Kenny Edwards, vice president; Rob Stolworthy, treasurer; and Justin Huebener, secretary.
Each of the endorsed candidates is a member of the Connect slate. However, each was picked based on his or her individual strengths. Slate affiliation was not considered when choosing which candidates to endorse.
President – Michelle Miller (Connect)
While interviewing, Michelle Miller proved herself to be an articulate, charismatic leader-characteristics which will be critical for her to effectively communicate with students, faculty members, and administrators. Furthermore, as the current SU vice president she has been easy to contact and willing to meet with students to discuss their concerns. She has also accomplished much, having played a large role in organizing last fall’s Ben Folds concert.
Russell Duhon (Connections) has also had strengths and accomplishments as a senator, but we were concerned that his somewhat belligerent attitude would make it difficult for students and administrators to work with him. While it is important for a president to push the administration to consider the perspectives of students, pushing too hard will make administrators less receptive to student needs.
Miller’s internal focus related to the operation of SU will be important during next year’s transition. However, she should not forget to pursue external matters and make addressing student concerns a priority during her administration.
Vice President – Kenny Edwards (Connect)
Kenny Edwards truly impressed the editorial board as being the most thoughtful of all the executive candidates running this year. He took time to answer questions, as opposed to spouting out political rhetoric. His ability to present carefully considered arguments demonstrated that he will not jump to rash conclusions if elected. Furthermore, his plan to eliminate redundancy within SU through better internal communication has the potential for greatly improving the student government’s overall efficiency.
David Ader (Connections) also brought a lot to the table. His desire to expand SU social programming showed his ability to represent the views of students. While good, his ideas needed to be expanded upon, but we are confident that in the future, Ader has the potential for becoming an excellent SU executive.
Given the constitutional transition in SU next year, we felt that an internally focused candidate, such as Edwards, would be better suited for the position of vice president. However, both demonstrated themselves to be capable candidates, making this a difficult decision for Student Life.
Treasurer – Rob Stolworthy (Connect)
Since the beginning of the semester, Rob Stolworthy has worked for Student Life as senior opinion editor. Despite his connection to the newspaper, we felt compelled to endorse his candidacy nonetheless. The editorial board weighed both candidates solely based on their previous experience and their answers during the interviews, and it did not take into account Stolworthy’s past work for the paper.
During his interview, Stolworthy expressed solid ideas for improving budget allocations. His plan to revamp budget allocations would prevent smaller groups from being penalized for not fundraising as much as larger groups, while still encouraging groups to raise money by matching the amount they fundraise. In addition, his past experience as a treasurer for Spectrum Alliance and Safe Zones gives him a greater understanding of how individual groups manage their budgets and will allow him to better understand their needs.
Chris Wray (Connections) proved himself to be a charismatic leader, perhaps the most of any of the candidates from his slate. However, his budget allocation plan was less specific and risked discouraging groups from fundraising at all.
Secretary – Justin Huebener (Connect)
Justin Huebener demonstrated a great deal of enthusiasm, which will serve him well if elected. One of his ideas for keeping students aware of SU was “NewsBytes,” a campaign that would place “headlines” about SU events and initiatives in high traffic areas on campus. Even if this program fails to gather attention, Huebener demonstrated the excitement and creativity that will set him up to succeed.
Pamela Bookbinder (Connections) has been active and successful this year as a senator with her work on the food committee. However, she did not come off as being as easy to communicate with as Huebener, and her eagerness was not as strong.
The editorial board feels that the internal focus of Miller, Edwards, Stolworthy, and Huebener will benefit SU during its transition to a new constitution next year. However, we hope that once the transition is complete, more candidates will take cues from the Connections slate and its external focus on proactively addressing student concerns. Most importantly, all students should voice their opinions by voting on WebSTAC on Wednesday and Thursday.
Editor’s Note: Because of Rob Stolworthy’s conflict of interest, he was not involved in either the selection of which candidates to endorse or the production of this editorial.