Although some of the rhetoric of his campaigning did not translate to policy, outgoing Student Senate President Jesse Neader said he followed through on his promises.
Neader’s SOUND campaign, which nearly swept the election, ran on the platform of preservation, fiscal responsibility, advocacy and quality interactions. But throughout the year, members of the opposing Prepared to Engage, Act and Respond ticket gained seats and sway in senate.
The addition of opposing candidates didn’t change Neader’s vision, outgoing Vice President Matthew Beddingfield said.
“It didn’t change the direction we wanted to go. … It changed the route,” he said.
At the beginning of the year, the newly elected senators hung banners in the senate office displaying their campaign’s four tenets. Throughout the year, they wrote on the banners to show their progress. The “advocacy” and “quality interactions” banners are almost completely covered, but the other two are sparser.
“While they’re not as full as we’d like them to be … we did our best to fulfill our promises,” Beddingfield said.
A campaign promise that could have gone on the “fiscal responsibility” banner was opening Budget Planning Council meetings. Neader’s predecessor Robert Leary also campaigned to open the meetings, but both presidents changed their stances once in office, saying the discussion in the meetings does not need to be made public.
Neader said he decided to shift his focus to more important things.
“Opening the BPC meetings has become more symbolic than effective,” he said, adding that the council makes only recommendations, not decisions.
The “quality interactions” banner is almost full. Neader promised during his campaign that he would schedule regular meetings with the leaders of other senates and collaborate on joint projects. That came in the form of quarterly meetings with the chairs of Graduate Student Senate, Faculty Senate, Classified Senate and Administrative Senate, Neader said.
Graduate Student Senate President Tracy Kelly said Neader was “very receptive” toward her senate.
When Kelly and Graduate Student Senate were considering a resolution to recommend additional lighting on Jeff Hill, she said, she approached Neader to get Student Senate’s support.
“Within about a week they put forward a resolution supporting that initiative,” she said.
During his campaign, Neader promised to “stir the pot” in senate. At times, his harsh rhetoric was questioned, but Neader said his style of leadership would be good for senate.
“People can be too (politically correct). People are too afraid,” he said. “I wasn’t afraid to get in people’s faces.”
His in-your-face leadership earned him some criticism during his tenure, as well.
“They tried to impeach me a few times,” he said.
University Life Commissioner John Calhoun described Neader’s style as “unconstrained leadership.”
“I thought he was a strong leader,” Calhoun said. “I feel like it was pretty clear who was president this year.”
Despite disagreements Neader had with senators, nobody actually submitted articles of impeachment, Calhoun said.
“I think the idea was thrown out a couple times,” Calhoun said, adding that Neader improved through the year.
“What really spoke volumes was his growth as a leader,” Calhoun said.
Neader said he was satisfied with his term as president.
“Looking back … I don’t think I would change much,” he said.
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