2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Opinion
Submit your question
Have your question answered! The SGA Elections Board wants to hear from you, the students, about the issues that most concern you. For the first time in recent history, the Student Government Association Elections Board will be hosting an open debate for all of the executive candidates for SGA at 7 p.m. this Thursday in the Atrium of Stamp Student Union.
After the candidates have answered some general questions selected by the Elections Board, they will answer questions submitted by students. This portion of the debate provides you the opportunity to express personal concerns, grill the candidates on policy and get to know the candidates better. You may choose one of three formats to submit questions: submit a video on YouTube, send an e-mail to UMD.SGA.Elections@gmail.com or come to the debate and ask a question.
To submit a question on YouTube, simply go to www.youtube.com/sgadebate2008, click on "Send Message" and send us your video. In the interest of time, please keep your questions to 20 seconds or less. If the Elections Board chooses your question, it will be shown at the debate and displayed on our YouTube channel.
For the best chance for your question to be included, we strongly encourage you to submit it prior to the debate. We look forward to seeing you Thursday!
Jeff Lasser
Chair, SGA Elections Board
UMD.SGA.Elections@gmail.com
Samuel Pinkava
SGA Elections Board Member
SGA Parliamentarian
SGAparliamentarian@umd.edu
Jonathan Sachs for president
As this year's SGA elections approach, our university community is faced with a number of urgent issues, all of which are in desperate need of being resolved. The most serious of these issues is undoubtedly the disturbing increase in violent crime on the campus and throughout the surrounding area in recent months. Something must be done immediately to protect students and make the campus much more secure. Additionally, the university is facing a severe housing shortage, leaving many students without somewhere to live on the campus, while room and board rates are steadily rising with no indication of stopping in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, classes are becoming increasingly overcrowded, making it more difficult even for dedicated students to learn. Moreover, the university will find itself in a transitory stage as the implementation of the administration's new strategic plan begins. Whoever we as a university community elect as our next SGA president will have tremendous influence in these matters and is certain to have a significant impact upon the environment we live in during the course of the coming year.
I believe the person most qualified to address such critical challenges and to lead a unified campus community into the future is my friend Jonathan Sachs, whom I endorse for President of the SGA. Many may consider it surprising that as a Republican I would endorse the President of the College Democrats for this position. However, I have come to know Jonathan through working with him on a variety of initiatives and issues, and I believe he is uniquely capable of uniting all the members of the university, resolving the issues we are all concerned about and responding to possible crises that may manifest themselves. I believe Jonathan will be able to bring everyone at the university together and make everyone feel welcome. It is important to have an SGA president who we can rely on to unite the university, because we all must surely confront the problems that affect us and work to solve them together. Current SGA President Andrew Friedson has done a great job, and I believe Jonathan is the right person to succeed him.
Jonathan has amassed an immense amount of experience in working with the College Republicans on matters where there is common ground, as well as with the SGA and a vast array of other student groups. I admire Jonathan's dedication to bipartisan cooperation and his constant willingness to cooperate with the College Republicans on issues of mutual agreement. Jonathan and I firmly believe it is possible for groups holding opposing viewpoints to seek out shared goals and strive to achieve them while still remaining loyal to their own values. One such issue Jonathan and I have worked together on is reaching out to those who are not involved in politics and encouraging them to become politically active. Prior to the Feb. 12 Potomac Primary, the College Republicans and College Democrats worked together with the SGA on a Get Out The Vote drive. During the course of this initiative, I observed firsthand Jonathan's enthusiasm for bipartisanship and unity and his devotion to helping every member of the campus community experience the opportunity to have his or her voice heard. As SGA president, I have no doubt he will always listen to the concerns of all students, work to alleviate the problems we face and unite all members of the university.
Christopher Banerjee
President
College Republicans
Air Your Views
The Diamondback welcomes your comments. Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion@dbk.umd.edu. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and night-time phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words. Please limit guest columns to between 550 and 700 words.
Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.
Letters can also be submitted online here.
Have your question answered! The SGA Elections Board wants to hear from you, the students, about the issues that most concern you. For the first time in recent history, the Student Government Association Elections Board will be hosting an open debate for all of the executive candidates for SGA at 7 p.m. this Thursday in the Atrium of Stamp Student Union.
After the candidates have answered some general questions selected by the Elections Board, they will answer questions submitted by students. This portion of the debate provides you the opportunity to express personal concerns, grill the candidates on policy and get to know the candidates better. You may choose one of three formats to submit questions: submit a video on YouTube, send an e-mail to UMD.SGA.Elections@gmail.com or come to the debate and ask a question.
To submit a question on YouTube, simply go to www.youtube.com/sgadebate2008, click on "Send Message" and send us your video. In the interest of time, please keep your questions to 20 seconds or less. If the Elections Board chooses your question, it will be shown at the debate and displayed on our YouTube channel.
For the best chance for your question to be included, we strongly encourage you to submit it prior to the debate. We look forward to seeing you Thursday!
Jeff Lasser
Chair, SGA Elections Board
UMD.SGA.Elections@gmail.com
Samuel Pinkava
SGA Elections Board Member
SGA Parliamentarian
SGAparliamentarian@umd.edu
Jonathan Sachs for president
As this year's SGA elections approach, our university community is faced with a number of urgent issues, all of which are in desperate need of being resolved. The most serious of these issues is undoubtedly the disturbing increase in violent crime on the campus and throughout the surrounding area in recent months. Something must be done immediately to protect students and make the campus much more secure. Additionally, the university is facing a severe housing shortage, leaving many students without somewhere to live on the campus, while room and board rates are steadily rising with no indication of stopping in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, classes are becoming increasingly overcrowded, making it more difficult even for dedicated students to learn. Moreover, the university will find itself in a transitory stage as the implementation of the administration's new strategic plan begins. Whoever we as a university community elect as our next SGA president will have tremendous influence in these matters and is certain to have a significant impact upon the environment we live in during the course of the coming year.
I believe the person most qualified to address such critical challenges and to lead a unified campus community into the future is my friend Jonathan Sachs, whom I endorse for President of the SGA. Many may consider it surprising that as a Republican I would endorse the President of the College Democrats for this position. However, I have come to know Jonathan through working with him on a variety of initiatives and issues, and I believe he is uniquely capable of uniting all the members of the university, resolving the issues we are all concerned about and responding to possible crises that may manifest themselves. I believe Jonathan will be able to bring everyone at the university together and make everyone feel welcome. It is important to have an SGA president who we can rely on to unite the university, because we all must surely confront the problems that affect us and work to solve them together. Current SGA President Andrew Friedson has done a great job, and I believe Jonathan is the right person to succeed him.
Jonathan has amassed an immense amount of experience in working with the College Republicans on matters where there is common ground, as well as with the SGA and a vast array of other student groups. I admire Jonathan's dedication to bipartisan cooperation and his constant willingness to cooperate with the College Republicans on issues of mutual agreement. Jonathan and I firmly believe it is possible for groups holding opposing viewpoints to seek out shared goals and strive to achieve them while still remaining loyal to their own values. One such issue Jonathan and I have worked together on is reaching out to those who are not involved in politics and encouraging them to become politically active. Prior to the Feb. 12 Potomac Primary, the College Republicans and College Democrats worked together with the SGA on a Get Out The Vote drive. During the course of this initiative, I observed firsthand Jonathan's enthusiasm for bipartisanship and unity and his devotion to helping every member of the campus community experience the opportunity to have his or her voice heard. As SGA president, I have no doubt he will always listen to the concerns of all students, work to alleviate the problems we face and unite all members of the university.
Christopher Banerjee
President
College Republicans
Air Your Views
The Diamondback welcomes your comments. Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion@dbk.umd.edu. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and night-time phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words. Please limit guest columns to between 550 and 700 words.
Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.
Letters can also be submitted online here.
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