By Paul TakahashiThe Daily Northwestern
Running for Associated Student Government president is not Jon Webber’s first big race.
“I ran the Chicago Marathon sophomore year,” the Weinberg junior said. “I love challenges.”
Webber’s time in the marathon was three hours and 50 minutes. The Columbia, Mo. resident also counts scuba diving and skydiving with his brother as some of his hobbies. If he loses his bid for ASG president, Webber said he will have more time for another one of his favorite activities.
“I love going to a diverse set of student events, whether they be theater, music or cultural events,” he said.
Webber faced many challenges during his three years with ASG, he said. He served as an Allison Hall senator during his freshman year, the Senate’s secretary during his sophomore year and the speaker of the senate this year.
“I have experience in ASG, and I have seen ASG fail,” the political science and mathematical methods in the social sciences double major said. “But being in ASG has taught me why it fails and how to fix it.
“ASG is not as successful as we could be because we don’t hold ourselves accountable and we don’t say when and how we’re going to accomplish our projects.”
Webber plans to change this through the vision and experience he brings to ASG, he said.
“My campaign has a 24-day plan, which outlines the 10 things we’re going to do in the first 24 days,” Webber said. “That’s a way we’re going to hold ourselves accountable and also for the rest of campus to hold us accountable right off the bat.”
In addition, ASG should be “solution-oriented,” Webber said. This was the spirit behind NUOnlineBooks.com, Webber said, referring to the Web site he created his freshman year that provides textbook information to students and donates proceeds to charity and NU groups.
“We’ve donated about $15,000 to charity and over $3,000 to student groups,” Webber said.
One of the ways Webber will try to make ASG more “action-oriented,” is to conduct research at other universities.
“There’s no reason why ASG needs to recreate the wheel on every project that we do,” Webber said. “We can find good projects other student governments have done and we can use that at Northwestern.”
Weinberg freshman Jesse Garfinkel, the current ASG speaker and Webber’s campaign manager, said he connected with Webber’s issues and vision.
“Jon’s experience and organization, coupled with his real energy and desire for change, gives him perspective and a vantage point no one else on campus has,” Garfinkel said.
Although Communication senior Jay Schumacher, the current ASG president, declined to make a public endorsement of either candidate, he said Webber is “more than qualified for the position.”
“I’ve worked with Jon for the past three years and have been impressed with his ideas, enthusiasm and his commitment to (ASG),” Schumacher said. “Jon always comes up with creative ideas on how to improve things.”
Reach Paul Takahashi at [email protected].
