Voters have a choice in the battle for Associated StudentGovernment executive vice president between an ASG insider and anoutsider with experience running a student group. We cautiouslyside with the outsider, Weinberg junior Karla Diaz.

Diaz, outgoing president of Latino cultural group Alianza, wantsto put more emphasis on building relationships between ExecutiveCommittee members and student groups. Perhaps because she has led astudent group herself, Diaz understands how important it is forgroups to get good advice from ASG and feel as though the committeemembers understand their concerns.

Her opponent, Communication sophomore Howie Buffett, has servedon the Executive Committee and overseen seven student performancegroups. He also is capable of handling the position.

But some of his platform goals are too specialized given thejob’s primary functions. A new light board and more theaterpractice space might be good ideas, but the executive vicepresident is more of a manager than a lobbyist.

Both Diaz and Buffett can do the job well, but only Diaz canbring a needed fresh perspective.