Voting starts today for the leadership of next year’s Student Government Association. As students log online to cast their ballots, they will have two parties and one “coalition” of candidates to choose from. In each of the past two years, the SGA’s top officials have come from multiple parties.
This has both positive and negative consequences: Joanna Calabrese, who was senior vice president last year, ended up bringing a strong environmental focus and energy to the SGA; but this year, Vice President of Finance Andrew Steinberg and President Steve Glickman have wasted far too much time bickering.
What these interactions have shown is that it’s best to think of the SGA not as a single unit, but as a collection of individuals, each of whom brings something different to student government. In this spirit, we decided not to endorse any single ticket, but instead to make individual endorsements for each executive position.
Student Body President: No endorsement
Each candidate running for SGA president has their own unique set of strengths and weaknesses. They have all demonstrated an understanding of the position they have campaigned for and a knowledge of issues. But despite their own particular strengths, which would be beneficial to any SGA president, we find that each candidate is too flawed to merit our endorsement. Instead, we’re presenting a buyer’s guide for voters to make their own decision.
Steve Glickman of Your Party is the incumbent candidate and the first SGA president to run for re-election in at least a decade. He has a yearlong track record, one that we have often judged harshly. It’s clear Glickman has learned much from his nearly 365 days in the big chair and is no longer a lightweight. At the Diamondback-sponsored debate Friday, his performance was the strongest. He is not without accomplishments, and played at least some role in the year’s two major victories for students: blocking a university system-wide pornography policy and saving the Wooded Hillock.
Glickman’s most attractive attribute might not be his experience, but his demeanor. He’s approachable and friendly, and he demonstrates confidence when faced with criticism. This can be construed as a level-headed approach or a crippling ignorance. Frankly, Glickman has not demonstrated he deserves a second term. Many of the initiatives he campaigned on, such as making student IDs work as Metro SmarTrip cards, remain incomplete.
If given a second chance, Glickman would likely to do a better job than he did this year. But that doesn’t change the fact that he hasn’t definitively earned another run as SGA president.
Andrew Steinberg of the SKY Party brings his experience as vice president of finance, as well as the intelligence and work ethic needed to do well as SGA president, to the race. His platform is the broadest and most detailed of the three, and has the best original idea: a state legislative audit of the Department of Transportation Services.
He wants to create an SGA strategic plan to guide the organization through the long-term, displaying a level of vision the other candidates haven’t matched. His credentials and experiences are strong. He ran a finance process that produced relatively few complaints, and only one appeal: from the SGA. He also developed a website to help student groups navigate the complex finance process.
But instead of running on his record, he’s produced a campaign based on negativity. His temperament worries us: He has a reputation as someone who can be difficult to work with. In 12 minutes of speaking during Friday’s debate, Steinberg attacked Glickman’s failures at least 14 times. Although we feel he would excel administratively, we fear dissenting voices would be shut out of the conversation in a Steinberg administration.
Natalia Cuadra-Saez of the STARE coalition stands apart from the other two candidates. To those who want an outsider to take the reins of the SGA, she is the best choice. Although Cuadra-Saez served as a SGA legislator this year, she is an activist first and foremost and retains an optimistic idealism. For those concerned with diversity, she has the deepest understanding of the issue.
However, it’s a lack of experience that leads us to question her candidacy. We don’t doubt her passion and ambition. She could make an excellent SGA president. But her candidacy is premature, and in some areas, she lacks the necessary base of knowledge.
Cuadra-Saez’s STARE coalition seeks to shift the SGA from a status quo institutional approach focused solely on working with administrators to an activist approach based on direct action and student-led initiatives. If this is what you want out of the SGA, she should have your vote.
We believe Cuadra-Saez would excel as a listener and a leader, who would be open to new ideas, willing to share credit and work with whatever hand is dealt to her. Regardless of the election’s outcome, we hope she is still involved with the organization next year.
Senior Vice President: Jazz Lewis, STARE coalition
Of the three candidates running for senior vice president, Lewis is the best choice. He shows a willingness to take on big, thorny problems, such as tackling the problem of sexual assault. He would bring much of the idealism offered by STARE to a position that could truly affect change. Lewis is well-connected in the student body through his work with Community Roots, and has a conciliatory attitude that focuses on bringing people together rather than driving them apart.
But the other two candidates aren’t slouches. Max Jacobs of the SKY Party has worked in the SGA and gained first-hand experience in safety issues. But his answers to two questions during the SGA-sponsored Executive Candidate Debate — one where he failed to properly define cost containment, another where he backed a lackluster SGA-organized event to distract students form celebrating after basketball games — raise serious questions about his understanding of university issues and qualifications for the position. Your Party’s Brandon Cuffy has less SGA experience, but his focus on making small changes to enhance students’ quality of life by improving the wireless connection in the dorms and response times by 4-WORK employees is attractive.
Vice President of Academic Affairs: Bob Hayes, STARE coalition
All three candidates for vice president of academic affairs are impressive, and the SGA would be better off next year if it could find roles for each. But ultimately, Your Party candidate Lisa Crisalli and Hayes have a leg up on the SKY Party’s Ian Winchester.
Hayes is the top choice. As one of the most experienced activists on the campus, he has worked with the SGA in the past. He also presented the strongest plan for reforming Provost Nariman Farvardin’s advisory committee, aiming to change it from a focus group for the administration to more of a tool for students to hold officials accountable (Crisalli also hoped to reform the committee). That, combined with Hayes’ experience as a university senator and as one of the founders of the university’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, should let students feel comfortable casting their ballot for him.
Winchester and Crisalli each bring similar approaches to the job. Both envision working closely with Farvardin, but Crisalli has already established connections with the university’s top academic officer by serving on his student advisory council.
Vice President of Finance: Cindy Weng, SKY Party
Like the candidates for vice president of academic affairs, the candidates for vice president of finance are all impressive in their own right. Any of the three would perform admirably in office. But by a hair, the strongest is Weng.
If students are looking for change in the system, the choice should be STARE’s Xenia Strunnikova, who seems to be a sure bet to enact the most change should she win the job — and there is merit to what she brings to the table. But the system isn’t in need of major reform, merely improvements. And so it comes down to Your Party’s Rob Mutschler and Weng, who are both dedicated, energetic and passionate about serving students for the upcoming year.
Weng seems the more polished candidate and the most eager to innovate ways to react to the needs of students. Mutschler, who has served on the SGA Finance Committee for three years, brings the most experience, but Weng brings the most quality.
