In the past week, Student Senate debates have escalated in intensity. As such, we want to address a few concerns. As student leaders, it is disheartening for us to see our colleagues chastised for having the experience and ability to be true leaders on this campus and be the real advocates for students. VOICE is full of student advocates who have passed numerous resolutions and have worked on real tangible results. The current Senate has accomplished or engaged in the following this year: instituting a preferred name policy, registering names and addresses online for the safety of students, advocating for student trustee voting rights, advocating against tuition increases, and advocating against administration pay increases. In comparison, an examination of FUSS’ resumé leaves little doubt in respect to tangible results. In short, FUSS has little to speak of, save for advocating against tuition increases. On the other hand, VOICE has proven itself as the ticket of doers. For FUSS to continue proclaiming that we do nothing and do not advocate for students is a mischaracterization of VOICE and Student Senate as a whole.
The guaranteed tuition model has been targeted as one of the main issues in this year’s debate. FUSS has openly rejected the proposed plan from Provost Benoit and Vice President Golding. FUSS is entitled to its opinion, but using this point as the marquee reason for running a campaign is offensive to the students. FUSS does not advocate for students but instead only protests with personal interests in mind. The FUSS ticket has questioned VOICE’s position on this plan to wait and hear a future presentation with more details. While protesting the current plan and criticizing VOICE, FUSS has failed to introduce a plan of its own that does not increase student indebtedness. This failure to materialize tangible results is a frank but fair assessment of the FUSS campaign.
An additional concern is Mr. Farmer taking credit where credit is not due. Specifically, he has taken credit for helping start the Residential Housing Advisory Board, a committee designed to advocate for students living on campus. Candidly, Jordan Ballinger did the vast majority of the work to make this board a reality. At the last minute, tRAC was brought on board because of its connections with Hall Councils and residents on the greens. Solely serving as president of tRAC, Matt was asked to help. Mr. Farmer served for one meeting, and has been replaced with Alex Howell, the current president of tRAC and candidate for East Green senator. Matt deserves credit for bringing members of tRAC to the meetings, but it is an exaggeration for him to take credit for co-starting this committee.
Credit goes to FUSS’ candidates for wanting to initiate a dialogue about several university-wide issues, but, at the end of the day, that is all they are doing: initiating. VOICE seeks to further this initiation into real, tangible results through the work of experienced campus leaders. Voting VOICE will bring this initiation to fruition.
Alex Howell is a freshman studying international business, the VOICE candidate for East Green senator, an RHAB co-chair and tRAC president. Jordan Ballinger is a sophomore studying political science and RHAB co-chair.
