Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Opinion

Our central rationale for endorsing the HOUSE Party this year is that the student body can better entrust its senior leaders to carry out the SGA's vital functions successfully. This is a lower standard than has been used in past years and reflects the relative inexperience of this year's presidential candidates. It's important to note that The Diamondback is breaking from tradition in endorsing a party rather than a presidential candidate, but it comes after careful consideration of each candidate's abilities.

It's our conclusion that the candidates could not run an effective organization without a strong executive board, and it is for this reason that we endorse the HOUSE Party's executive candidates based on their strength as a whole.

The President

It is clear that Mardy Shualy brings the most thoughtful approach to the position of student body president. His weakness is his lack of political know-how compared to past candidates, but he is aware of the problems facing students and has diligently consulted people with expertise on each issue. It is difficult to imagine him rousing large sections of the student body behind a cause due to his relative lack of charisma; nonetheless, he was clearly able to recruit students of greater competence and seriousness to his ticket than his opponents and demonstrated a superior level of analytic ability when questioned on specifics.

Jonathan Sachs has demonstrated greater campaign and oratory skills and has expressed enthusiasm for lobbying in Annapolis, but we're concerned those interests come at the expense of understanding issues on the campus and in the city at a deeper level.

Most notably, he showed a disconcerting unfamiliarity with the policy of cost containment by which profit-making departments such as the Department of Transportation Services and Dining Services return money to the university, a concern considering he'll be expected to take stances on budgets that directly affect students.

Additionally, his experience leading College Democrats is admirable, but dealing with political issues in that realm is a far cry from representing the entire student body or even administering the Student Government Association.

While Dan Leydorf should be commended for attempting an independent run for the office, his independence also raises the question of why he was not able to recruit students to join his cause. His platform is short on substance, and his experience in the Residence Halls Association is less than impressive. He has criticized DOTS for its policies but could not point to any accomplishments in curtailing them while he served as chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee.

The Executive Board

The distinction between each party's vice presidential candidates is pronounced: The HOUSE party's slate is one of competence while the Students Party leaves us with great reservations. The HOUSE party will ensure a fair finance process, coordination among student groups and positive interaction with administration.

Senior Vice President

It's been interesting to note the similarities between the two women running for the vice president of campus affairs position: Wanika Fisher of the Students Party and Joanna Calabrese of the HOUSE party are both highly accomplished, charismatic candidates who have expressed great interest in bringing together groups on the campus whom they view have been out of the fold or even maligned.

The candidates, however, seem to have very different approaches in how to make that happen. Fisher appears better versed in knowing what student cultural groups need and said she would try to achieve unity by ensuring better funding and event co-sponsorship.

But before that happens, there needs to be a better understanding of what divisions exist. Calabrese understands this, and her open-ended approach to unifying groups through round-table discussions would be more effective. It's not a perfect solution, but it at least recognizes that funding for cultural groups aren't the only places where gaps need to be filled.

Calabrese also thinks more broadly about safety and city council issues, saying student lobbying would be more successful in Annapolis if we learned first how to achieve success with the College Park City Council.

It's an interesting take on student action, but it's one we think reflects Calabrese's experience in environmental activism, where she apparently learned to take a step back from things that aren't working and searching out ways to make fixes. This will be a crucial skill in office, because she'll likely need to become motivator-in-chief if Shualy isn't able to rally legislators around particular causes.

Calabrese still has a lot to learn, but her expertise on issues was far more apparent than Fisher's, who seemed to speak in generalities when questioned on issues such as safety and city council relations.

Fisher's strengths seem to lie in her relationships with student groups. But in the position she's running for, what's needed is a broad knowledge of issues, experience in rallying others around a cause and, most of all, the ability to navigate several systems of governance where students don't always command respect.

For that reason, Calabrese is the clearest choice.

Vice President of Finance

The most striking contrast between candidates is in the race for vice president of finance. The HOUSE Party's Sumia Ahmad served as this year's SGA executive secretary. She took on much of the responsibility for running the recruitment and retention committee after the Student Party's Sterling Grimes failed in his duties as committee chairman.

She has experience in appropriations from a prior internship, familiarity with the finance process as a club treasurer and feasible ideas for improving allocations by creating treasurer transition meetings.

The Students Party's Jason Hofberg does not possess a coherent understanding of the financing process. This may be because his "two years" of experience on the finance committee is entirely overstated: He did not join the committee until the second semester of his freshman year and was absent from all but one of its meetings during the fall semester of his sophomore year.

Furthermore, he intends to replace the current budgetary process, one where student groups are allocated funds based on need, with one where specific types of activities would be favored more than others. This would single-handedly cause the demise of many student groups.

If Hofberg implements his plan, expect widespread upheaval of student life on the campus.

Vice President of Academic Affairs

The position of vice president of academic affairs will be one of the most important executive board positions this coming year because of the continued revision of the university's 10-year strategic plan. The VP will have a pivotal opportunity to influence the direction of the university by fostering a strong student voice on provisions of the plan.

The candidates for the position have both demonstrated an adequate knowledge of the plan and an ability to recognize the most salient aspects of it - general education, problems with advising and ways to improve resource allocation.

But the HOUSE Party's Laura Johnson has already served on the provost's student advisory committee and her working relationship with him is an undeniable asset going into the job. Her experience lends itself to the VP spot more than that of Grimes of the Students Party, who has done an insufficient job as chairman of the recruitment and retention committee.

Vote HOUSE.

Policy: The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback's editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools