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March 03, 2005

I should've remembered that StudCo elections always bring disappointment.

Well, with one notable exception, StudCo elections went poorly (though somewhat as expected) again. Ryan Taylor will represent the E-school, and will certainly try to make up for some oversights, but he'll have a lot of work ahead of him.
- Unfortunately, Sam White was among those unable to win his election. He had two main agendas; make StudCo votes transparent (which, fortunately, did pass in a referendum), and change student ID numbers from SSNs to something random. While I doubt this would affect me, or many other current UVa students, this must be changed for incoming students in the future. With identity theft a serious concern, the school owes its students nothing less.
- The consensus clause did not pass. This in itself is not too big a concern, but the fact that students want to look at changing the Single Sanction is. I still don't understand why they want to do something that could devalue every single UVa diploma, but it cannot be allowed. What makes matters worse is that the Cavalier Daily is under the assumption that the consensus clause was too complicated for UVa students (just like the media, underestimating their readers), so that vote should not be taken as seriously as the other. This is presumptious on their part, and that thought process should not continue. While a majority of the students may want to change the Single Sanction, it is clear that a majority also don't want a small plurality changing it.
Now, it is a little ironic though, that everyone against the consensus clause said the school NEVER gets a majority of its students to vote in the elections. But this year, record numbers turned out, and 53% of the students voted. It may be a moot point, but the opponents of the consensus clause appeared to underestimate their fellow Wahoos as well.
- The hate crimes initative passed, sadly. Double standards like the prosecution of so-called "hate" crimes should not be allowed. Not even bothering to look for the opposing "love" crimes, one has to wonder why some people seem to think that similar crimes must be different just because of a difference of race. What's really disappointing about it though is that most people do not feel like they can vote against it because that might imply they were racist. I'm not implying that people should go out and insult the next racial minority they find; if someone has committed a crime, though, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of motivation.
- Finally, the students wanted UVa to pursue a contract with Coke, rather than renew with Pepsi. Now that is just wrong. Pepsi is the superior brand. I know, not politically oriented. I don't care, I just want my Pepsi.