UVa StudCo elections
Well, it is that time of year again. Time to choose the person I hate the least to take over as StudCo president. Recent years have produced few, if any, decent candidates running for that position, but there was no way that anyone could have predicted how bad it would be this year. Let's run through them.
- Tom Gibson, a College Republican, which in itself should make him an appealing candidate. However, he was less than honest when dealing with the University Democrats for an endorsement. As a StudCo candidate, he has little to run on; does he really think playing such political games will make him more appealing?
- Greg Jackson supports the Hate Crime initiative. Not only is it a bad idea to create such a double standard, but this idea affects UJC, a seperate body. That's like Japan telling Mexico to change its Constitution; right now, they have no basis to do so.
- Jaquetta Upton started to look really good after these two. Then, I looked at her endorsements. University Democrats, Minority Rights Advocacy Coalition, National Organization of Women at UVA, Queer Student Union. Uh, no.
- Curran Jhanjee. I know a lot of people are big on his anti-establishment thing. And while I am all for small government, I want to know that whoever I'm voting for is not going to just waste a year.
So, what option does that leave me? Oh yeah, I can just leave that portion of the ballot blank. Now, this is something I first told myself I would never do, but I'd rather not have my vote associated with any of these people if they leave behind a legacy as meaningless or pathetic as the Lundy/Sullivan era.
That's not to say there weren't candidates worth voting for.
- Sam White, running for Executive VP, is looking to bring StudCo back to responsibility. He believes that their votes should be transparent and that student ID numbers should NOT be their SSNs. I'd say this would be a well placed vote.
- Ryan Taylor, whom I am unable to vote for as he is running for a position in the E-School. Unfortunately, I do not know what his platform is, but I know his character is exceptional, and I believe he would make a good leader.
And to go off on a small tangent, there is one referenda that I find very important. It might not need to pass, but it needs to be considered. The consensus clause was proposed to prevent changes to our Honor Code (which is a model to many other universities around the country) without a majority of the student body accepting them. While there is some concern that this clause might be applied to other referenda votes, it should be taken seriously. Simply enough, the Honor Code may be one of the biggest things to define the University of Virginia education; it should not be changed by 2000 (or perhaps less) of the nearly 20000 Wahoos.
All that said, if you haven't yet, vote. The polls close tomorrow (or I guess that is later today now), and, like the changes to the Honor Code, these candidates, as poor as they are, should not get through with such a small plurality.
- Tom Gibson, a College Republican, which in itself should make him an appealing candidate. However, he was less than honest when dealing with the University Democrats for an endorsement. As a StudCo candidate, he has little to run on; does he really think playing such political games will make him more appealing?
- Greg Jackson supports the Hate Crime initiative. Not only is it a bad idea to create such a double standard, but this idea affects UJC, a seperate body. That's like Japan telling Mexico to change its Constitution; right now, they have no basis to do so.
- Jaquetta Upton started to look really good after these two. Then, I looked at her endorsements. University Democrats, Minority Rights Advocacy Coalition, National Organization of Women at UVA, Queer Student Union. Uh, no.
- Curran Jhanjee. I know a lot of people are big on his anti-establishment thing. And while I am all for small government, I want to know that whoever I'm voting for is not going to just waste a year.
So, what option does that leave me? Oh yeah, I can just leave that portion of the ballot blank. Now, this is something I first told myself I would never do, but I'd rather not have my vote associated with any of these people if they leave behind a legacy as meaningless or pathetic as the Lundy/Sullivan era.
That's not to say there weren't candidates worth voting for.
- Sam White, running for Executive VP, is looking to bring StudCo back to responsibility. He believes that their votes should be transparent and that student ID numbers should NOT be their SSNs. I'd say this would be a well placed vote.
- Ryan Taylor, whom I am unable to vote for as he is running for a position in the E-School. Unfortunately, I do not know what his platform is, but I know his character is exceptional, and I believe he would make a good leader.
And to go off on a small tangent, there is one referenda that I find very important. It might not need to pass, but it needs to be considered. The consensus clause was proposed to prevent changes to our Honor Code (which is a model to many other universities around the country) without a majority of the student body accepting them. While there is some concern that this clause might be applied to other referenda votes, it should be taken seriously. Simply enough, the Honor Code may be one of the biggest things to define the University of Virginia education; it should not be changed by 2000 (or perhaps less) of the nearly 20000 Wahoos.
All that said, if you haven't yet, vote. The polls close tomorrow (or I guess that is later today now), and, like the changes to the Honor Code, these candidates, as poor as they are, should not get through with such a small plurality.
posted by CR UVa at 12:42 AM
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