Traveler endorses Bookhout, LeNarz
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: Opinion
Editor's note: These endorsements reflect the Traveler editorial board's opinion after conducting interviews with each candidate. The treasurer and secretary endorsements will appear Wednesday, along with last week's poll results.
Year after year, during ASG elections, the position of ASG president is touted as a position of consummate student representation. "To be ASG president is to be the voice of the students," candidates proclaim. But every year, after the elections end and the winner assumes office, a different role for the ASG president emerges - that of a diplomat. The ASG president ultimately acts more as a quiet negotiator than as an impassioned student activist.
But - perhaps - that's as it should be.
We know this is a traitorous view for us to take - both as young adults and as journalists. After all, if we can't be idealistic about the possibility for uncompromising political representation while we're still young, when can we be? In the end, though, it serves no purpose to pretend that an ASG president can effect change without cultivating relationships with administrators or compromising on peripheral issues.
ASG presidents have to pick their battles wisely, and we fail to see how a president who would die on the hill of student ticket prices or marijuana policy would be able to protect students' rightful expectation to receive a reasonably priced, well-rounded education - which is, ultimately, what students most want from the university and what administrators owe it to students to provide.
It is for this reason that the Traveler editorial board endorses Mattie Bookhout for ASG president.
Bookhout possesses ample qualifications for the position. Not only has she served two years as an ASG senator, but she also has experience in the executive branch of the ASG. As secretary last year, Bookhout significantly improved the ASG Web site and reliably facilitated communication among the three branches of student government and the wider campus. This year, her work with the Appropriations Committee further enlarged the depth and breadth of her knowledge of student government. And her campaign platform presents a clear and actionable plan for ASG.
But it is the depth of her desire for this position and her tactful and respectful approach to her ASG colleagues and even administrators - yes, that's right - that compel us to endorse her for president. We believe her cooperative demeanor and her enthusiasm for the ASG uniquely equip her to weather the inevitable frustrations and bureaucratic dead-ends that accompany the ASG presidency.
Our endorsement is not without reservations, though. Both our personal and professional experience of Bookhout has taught us that she has a tendency to spread herself too thin and, sometimes, to carry the popularity principle too far and seek to please at the expense of taking a stand on difficult issues.
We trust, however, that the ASG presidency will be her top priority if she is elected. And we hope that yet another year of growth in the ASG will teach Bookhout, on the rare occasion her remarkable savvy fails her, to steel herself to face administrative or peer displeasure if a matter of principle forces her to cause controversy.
***
The position of vice president, as outlined in the ASG Code, has the most significant responsibility of not only assisting the ASG president, but also nominating students to positions within various committees at the university.
Andrew LeNarz, who is running for vice president on the same ticket as presidential candidate Mattie Bookhout, made clear in an interview with the board that he plans to take that duty seriously and considers it the vice president's "greatest actual stated duty."
To fulfill that task responsibly, LeNarz said he plans to recruit dedicated students to each position by conducting interviews and taking the advice of others who are in the know. The board finds that the importance he attributed to these appointments is noteworthy among his opponents and that he, above Robert Sharp and Jon Bame, seems to best understand the duties of the vice president.
Other than his emphasis on committee appointments, LeNarz desires to see the ASG move in the same direction as Bookhout does, and, as a whole, the board thinks he has the experience necessary to back up the pair's ambitious platform.
Though the other two vice-presidential candidates also have leadership experience - Bame as a Fulbright senator and OMNI UA chair, and Sharp as a Walton senator and member of the Campus Safety Committee - LeNarz has served as a Walton senator, the assistant treasurer and on the Appropriations Committee, all of which are positions that will allow him to more effectively work with UA administrators and other ASG members in the future.
LeNarz's preparedness, impressive résumé and partnership with Bookhout, a strong candidate, have the board convinced he is ready to take on the role of ASG vice president.
For more information about the candidates and their platforms, visit www.thetraveleronline.com/election, which will be updated Wednesday with final information about the vice-presidential candidates.
Year after year, during ASG elections, the position of ASG president is touted as a position of consummate student representation. "To be ASG president is to be the voice of the students," candidates proclaim. But every year, after the elections end and the winner assumes office, a different role for the ASG president emerges - that of a diplomat. The ASG president ultimately acts more as a quiet negotiator than as an impassioned student activist.
But - perhaps - that's as it should be.
We know this is a traitorous view for us to take - both as young adults and as journalists. After all, if we can't be idealistic about the possibility for uncompromising political representation while we're still young, when can we be? In the end, though, it serves no purpose to pretend that an ASG president can effect change without cultivating relationships with administrators or compromising on peripheral issues.
ASG presidents have to pick their battles wisely, and we fail to see how a president who would die on the hill of student ticket prices or marijuana policy would be able to protect students' rightful expectation to receive a reasonably priced, well-rounded education - which is, ultimately, what students most want from the university and what administrators owe it to students to provide.
It is for this reason that the Traveler editorial board endorses Mattie Bookhout for ASG president.
Bookhout possesses ample qualifications for the position. Not only has she served two years as an ASG senator, but she also has experience in the executive branch of the ASG. As secretary last year, Bookhout significantly improved the ASG Web site and reliably facilitated communication among the three branches of student government and the wider campus. This year, her work with the Appropriations Committee further enlarged the depth and breadth of her knowledge of student government. And her campaign platform presents a clear and actionable plan for ASG.
But it is the depth of her desire for this position and her tactful and respectful approach to her ASG colleagues and even administrators - yes, that's right - that compel us to endorse her for president. We believe her cooperative demeanor and her enthusiasm for the ASG uniquely equip her to weather the inevitable frustrations and bureaucratic dead-ends that accompany the ASG presidency.
Our endorsement is not without reservations, though. Both our personal and professional experience of Bookhout has taught us that she has a tendency to spread herself too thin and, sometimes, to carry the popularity principle too far and seek to please at the expense of taking a stand on difficult issues.
We trust, however, that the ASG presidency will be her top priority if she is elected. And we hope that yet another year of growth in the ASG will teach Bookhout, on the rare occasion her remarkable savvy fails her, to steel herself to face administrative or peer displeasure if a matter of principle forces her to cause controversy.
***
The position of vice president, as outlined in the ASG Code, has the most significant responsibility of not only assisting the ASG president, but also nominating students to positions within various committees at the university.
Andrew LeNarz, who is running for vice president on the same ticket as presidential candidate Mattie Bookhout, made clear in an interview with the board that he plans to take that duty seriously and considers it the vice president's "greatest actual stated duty."
To fulfill that task responsibly, LeNarz said he plans to recruit dedicated students to each position by conducting interviews and taking the advice of others who are in the know. The board finds that the importance he attributed to these appointments is noteworthy among his opponents and that he, above Robert Sharp and Jon Bame, seems to best understand the duties of the vice president.
Other than his emphasis on committee appointments, LeNarz desires to see the ASG move in the same direction as Bookhout does, and, as a whole, the board thinks he has the experience necessary to back up the pair's ambitious platform.
Though the other two vice-presidential candidates also have leadership experience - Bame as a Fulbright senator and OMNI UA chair, and Sharp as a Walton senator and member of the Campus Safety Committee - LeNarz has served as a Walton senator, the assistant treasurer and on the Appropriations Committee, all of which are positions that will allow him to more effectively work with UA administrators and other ASG members in the future.
LeNarz's preparedness, impressive résumé and partnership with Bookhout, a strong candidate, have the board convinced he is ready to take on the role of ASG vice president.
For more information about the candidates and their platforms, visit www.thetraveleronline.com/election, which will be updated Wednesday with final information about the vice-presidential candidates.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Donnie Draper
posted 4/05/09 @ 9:14 PM CST
I thought Traveler's never had the policy of endorsing candidates.
Dom
posted 4/06/09 @ 10:49 PM CST
This is ridiculous. As if those two haven't flooded campus enough. Didn't the media play a big enough role in deciding the U.S. President?
Pro-Holloway
posted 4/07/09 @ 8:54 AM CST
At least Holloway described what his plans are for the U of A... he didn't just list his credentials to show that he is "qualified" to be our president. (Continued…)
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