Anti-endorsement

Desmond/Polk campaign doesn't really put students first

When an Undergraduate Student Government presidential/vice presidential team campaigns under the slogan "Putting Students First," one might expect that pair to give a damn about the concerns of the average student.

One might very easily be wrong.

Jaime Desmond and John Polk have, in the two weeks of campaigning, shown a wholehearted disinterest in "putting students first."

Whether it be skipping the "Willard debate's" attempt to bring the candidates to the students, or collecting the most campaign violations, the Desmond/Polk ticket has made a habit of ignoring the voices of their constituency.

The plan, it seems, is to sit back and run the same old campaign that wins the election every year. Who needs to listen to the students when one has the secret society and insider votes all wrapped up in one nice little package?

For those who don't know, secret societies -- or "senior honor societies" as the members would prefer to have you call them -- are made up of "student leaders" and, often, administrators.

These secret societies offer a chance to do . . . well, who knows -- they are secret after all. Perhaps the student activity fee came out of a secret society meeting -- we'll never know. The point is, these societies offer some "student leaders" a chance to make policy decisions with no input from the students who will live under them.

That doesn't sound like putting students first.

It sounds more like putting status quo first.

In interviews with the nine tickets running for office in the election, several stated that one of their primary reasons for running was because they were annoyed with the way USG has been run.

If you, as one candidate pair said, are "pissed off," then Desmond/Polk are not the candidates for you.

Think for a moment: Name one thing they've done that makes you think they're different from those USG leaders who have most annoyed you in the past.

To be fair, not everyone who leads USG is a bad leader. But even the most promising USG leaders have been restricted by their reluctance to criticize the system.

The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion would like to see a change. We would like to see a USG president who can think for his or her self -- or at least one that won't leave us wondering when they disappear to that "secret" meeting late at night.

We would like someone who puts students first somewhere other than just on a flier.

For these reasons, the Board of Opinion wholeheartedly anti-endorses Jaime Desmond and John Polk for USG president and vice president.

This is, of course, April Fool's Day, but this is no joke.

Choosing to vote for no one before choosing to vote for Desmond/Polk, of course, is the ultimate act of foolishness.

But when you do vote, don't be fooled by a statement on a flier.

Editor's note: The Collegian Board of Opinion has endorsed Michael Landsberg and Brent Barbe for USG president and vice president. Please vote for them tomorrow.