This editorial represents the majority opinion of the Campus Press editorial staff.
The Campus Press editorial board hoped Monday night’s debate among the candidates for the University of Colorado Student Union Tri-executive spot would help us come away with a clearer picture of who the best candidates were.
Unfortunately, we were served a tepid meal of the same things we’ve heard over and over again from candidates who can’t seem to adequately support their positions. When Hawkins and Homies answer their first question with a poorly re-enacted scene from Braveheart and still look better than their fellow students on the Unity and Value tickets, well, there’s a problem.
We had hoped to endorse a ticket as an editorial staff. But now, we’re not so sure that’s wise.
For starters, we had the fiasco regarding Unity candidate Sara Davine’s involvement in Pan-Hellenic. An observer asked if this would lead to a conflict of interest. Not only did she backpedal faster than Ichiro chasing a fly ball, but Value candidate Jamie Smolski felt compelled to fan the flames – talking out of turn – by speculating about what she had heard from people she’s spoken with.
Then, of course, were several not-so-subtle jabs exchanged between Value and Unity, typically involving the handling of student fees this year by current Legislative Council Sen. Taylor Portman and Charles Gilford, who serves on the Student Group Funding Board. Classy.
We also were presented with few answers to the issue of diversity at CU, even though all of the candidates admirably agreed upon its importance. However, we are also bothered by the fact that the entire Value ticket is composed of IFC fraternity or Pan-Hellenic sorority members. Given that the majority of CU students are non-Greek, we’re alarmed by this. We don’t want to see the kind of pandering to the Greek system we saw this semester, especially to the unaffiliated fraternity secessionists.
That said, we’re also unhappy with the non-sequitur provided by Unity candidate Hadley Brown:
“The best way to improve diversity is through diversity on the ticket,” Brown said.
Actually, the best way to improve diversity is by electing people willing to provide outreach to underrepresented students through organizations like the Student Outreach and Retention Center for Equity. Granted, Unity is a big proponent of that, as are their opponents. And we applaud them for that. But we’re not convinced it’s legitimate to piggy-back on the ethnicity of your candidates to try and win an election.
We’re also troubled by the lack of experience on all three tickets. Hawkins and Homies are first-timers; only Taylor Portman has any legislative council experience for Value; Unity has two members who have served on the UCSU executive staff, but none of them have served in an elected legislative position. They all carry impressive resumes, but there is a noticeable void in direct policymaking experience at this university.
Ultimately, we are left to hope that the zeal all of the candidates displayed will translate to legitimate and thoughtful action if elected. We are presented with eloquent speakers, all of whom agree on what the big issues are: state funding for higher education, diversity and student group funding, to name but a few.
The difference lies in how they will handle them – if they’re handled at all. We just hope they won’t commit the sins of their predecessors – talking an issue to death without acting on it.
