Winning seat doesn’t ensure a smooth ride
At Norris University Center Tuesday night, President Bush was ontelevision trying to save his beleaguered presidency. At the sametime, Associated Student Government presidential candidate Jane Leewas out shaking hands, hoping to just win a presidency of her ownand worry about the details later.
It was a frantic time for Lee, who ended up trouncing hercompetition, and as a friend told her to take it easy, Lee smiledand replied, “Do you really expect me to listen?”
As the campaign neared its end, the candidates for ASG’scampus-wide positions were exhausted and anxious. It’s easy for anapathetic student body to disregard ASG as a joke — in many waysit is. In the mini-world of student government, however, electionsemphasize the power of personality and its potential for success orfailure.
Student services vice presidential candidate Sara Whitakertalked to me while knocking on students’ doors about the stress oftrying to prove to people that she was the right person for thejob, and groaned as she recalled the lack of sleep and free timeshe has had since the beginning of the quarter.
“People told me it would be tough,” she said on her way to BobbHall. “But I didn’t realize it would be like getting your gutsripped out.”
Whitaker lost to Alex Lurie.
The stress of the process weighed upon the other candidates aswell. It can be grueling, with ridiculous arguments — like thisyear’s obnoxious flier-gate — lasting even after the e-pollsclose. But it prepares the candidates for what ASG can be — aroyal pain in the ass.
Those who do take office face roadblocks and red tape beforethey even get started. Even Lurie acknowledged that ASG’s historyis one of unfulfilled potential.
Part of the problem is institutional. ASG’s limited power comesonly when the administration feels like giving it to them –something recently retired president Mike Fong said was the onething he wished he could change.
But just as much responsibility rests on the people. As Fongtold me after Lee assumed the job, “ASG’s biggest asset is thepeople.” Fong may be right when it comes to good leaders, but don’tforget the burdens poor leadership produces. The offices themselvesare weak and, as the candidates I talked to agreed, the leadershipof the people who fill them is crucial.
A lot of people, including myself, have bashed ASG in the past.And frankly, sometimes they’ve deserved it.
It is the individual leaders who decide whether a financialmisconduct investigation, such as the one Rachel Lopez, Weinberg’03, faced on her watch, will cripple ASG. But ASG has also actedsuccessfully on student sentiment, challenging projects likefilling in part of the Lagoon, as Jordan Heinz, Education ’02,did.
In the end, if the crop of candidates that survived the stormfail miserably in office, it’s likely no one will notice. A lot ofpeople don’t expect much out of ASG. But if they succeed, they cantake a step toward improving campus life and proving studentgovernment is not simply an exercise in futility.
