I'm a candidate on the iOU ticket for Student Senate. Last year I was the Birthday Party's candidate for Vice President. I'm now running against many of the people I worked with this time last spring. I have the utmost respect for Will Klatt and Molly Shea, but I want to say something about the labels that have been put forth. The claim has been made that iOU, which is currently campaigning for seats on next year's Student Senate, represents the same kind of failure that previous Student Senates have achieved. I refute the claim on all points. Notice the word failure is in quotes. Putting that word at the end of a sentence ignores the successes that the Student Senate has accomplished this year; much in the same way that accusing someone of being a social climber, without knowing anything about them, ignores much of the good that individual does.
I would like to point out what little sense it makes to accuse people who were not at this university four years ago, much less on the Student Senate, that they are the same incumbent party as a or Toga. I would even go so far as to point out that three of the people on iOU (Markee Speyer, Ted Hamilton and myself) campaigned for the Birthday Party last year. Opponents on the other side and some activists on this campus do us the disservice of looking at the three executives on our ticket (while conveniently ignoring that Molly Shea is also a Student Senate incumbent) and call us a senate dynasty.
I don't understand how people like Will Klatt can attack us with broad labels that don't speak to who we are as individuals, and then get angry when Even Webb calls him and his friends socialists or tree-huggers. Mr. Webb doesn't represent you. He doesn't represent me. He doesn't represent anyone on either ticket. What he throws in a letter to feed the fire isn't a fair example of how I or iOU feel about students. In that same stead, the term senate dynasty is inaccurate and unfair. I've worked with Will personally, and I have a lot of respect for him and what he's accomplished on the campus. So maybe when he calls us a senate dynasty (a label used with much the same purpose as the term socialist) he means everyone but Markee, Ted, and myself. Maybe he means the minority of individuals on iOU who have a history with the Student Senate. Maybe he means everyone who is not working for the Unite! ticket.
I do ask that you keep one thing in mind this Thursday. The Unite! party wants to open Student Senate voting to the entire student population: anyone and everyone who shows up. You can form your own opinion about that platform item, but remember that if elected, those members of Unite! will represent you in all meetings, conversations with administrators, boards that senators sit on and the all the other work that isn't accomplished at a meeting on Wednesday night. Ask yourself if Unite! has any athletes, members of Greek Life, Democrats, Republicans, the Marching 110, or any minorities. Ask yourself who they represent. And as always, talk to members of both tickets. I trust the students to make an informed decision about both tickets without the labels. I, however, will be voting for iOU and the strong, diverse leadership it will bring to the senate table next year.
John Calhoun is a senior studying political science and sociology.
4 Opinion
Letter to the Editor
