This year’s tickets reflect past issues on UCSU
They say those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The student running in this year’s UCSU elections have studied their history and have learned the lessons of both past winners and losers.
The two major tickets in the 2007 spring Tri-executive elections couldn’t have been more different. The Value ticket, consisting of Taylor Portman, Jamie Smolski and Benjamin Finn, consisted entirely of members of the Greek community. The Unity ticket, Hadley Brown, Charles Gilford and Sara Davine ran on a platform of broad campus representation.
The Unity ticket ultimately won, and they say it is because of the campus encompassing nature of their platform.
“People related to our message that we were a broadly representative ticket,” Brown said. “Our message resonated with people.”
It resonated so well, in fact, the tickets in this year’s election have tried to take that same message and run with it. Over the course of the past few weeks, the One and Drive tickets have both repeatedly claimed their ticket is the most representative of the student body at large.
“We strove to make the most representative ticket possible, which we have,” Dustin Farivar of the Drive ticket said regarding the composition of the Drive ticket.
Not to be outdone, the One ticket has also said their ticket is the most inclusive and representative.
“All the bases are covered under the One ticket,” said Piers Blyth, a Tri-executive candidate running on the One ticket.
The other major factor in last year’s election was the controversial Fair and Equal Access bill. The bill, authored by then IFC President and Legislative Council vice president Chris Kline, would have shut down campus cost centers if they did not recognize and give equal access to members of the fraternity community. The bill was ultimately tabled, although a watered down version of it appeared in the appropriations bill that year.
Charles Gilford said the fallout of the bill may have helped to give Unity its victory that year.
“There’s nothing wrong with the Greek community,” Gilford said. “But I think the bottom line is people recognize the importance of campus representation over agendas.”
In light of the Value ticket’s loss last year, all of the tickets in this year’s election have adamantly maintained they are not the “Greek” ticket, although they have tried to lay that label on their opponents.
In the debate between this year’s candidates last Tuesday, April 1, Drive ticket Dustin Farivar pointed out the fact Chance Heath voted to pass the Fair and Equal Access Bill on to its second reading.
Farivar, who voted against approving the bill at its first reading, has said the bill put the interests of the fraternities above those of the average student and would have been a blow to student autonomy over cost centers.
“The way the Fair and Equal Access Bill was presented, it threatened student life on this campus,” Farivar said.
Heath defends his vote as simply encouraging discussion of the issue of the way fraternities are treated.
“I feel every single resolution and every single bill deserves to go to second reading in order to educate yourself on the issue,” Heath said.
When asked if he would have voted in favor of the bill had it gone to a second reading, Heath answered with a simple and emphatic “no.”
Speaking at the debate for the Solidarity ticket, Tri-executive candidate John Rineck said they were willing work with the Greeks in light of the recent explusion of the Delta Chi fraternity, but his ticket would not put Greek interests ahead of the rest of the student body as they represent a small minority on campus, he said.
While being careful to avoid the label of being too much of a special interest ticket, the One ticket has criticized the interests of the Drive ticket, mostly recently over the choice of Panhellenic Sororities president Victoria Garcia for Tri-executive.
Piers Blyth of the One ticket said it was hypocritical of the Drive ticket to call the One ticket the Greek ticket when they have the leader of the Panhellenic community running for office.
“Nobody running for office has as much Greek power as Victoria Garcia,” Blyth said.
Drive has responded by saying having Garcia as a Tri-executive will help to bridge the gap between the Greek community and the rest of the student body.
“I think the dual roles (of Panhellenic president and Tri-executive) are going to work to her benefit, and to the Greek system’s benefit as well,” Drive candidate Ryan Biehle said.
Only time will tell which group learned more from their election history.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Rob Ryan at rryan@colorado.edu
