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-OregonDailyEmerald
ENDORSEME3NTS
Wednesday, April 9,2003
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant:
Salena De La Cruz
Maddy and Eddy for ASUO Executive
Editorial
Voting begins today for the 2003
04 ASUO offices, and so the Emerald
offers its endorsements. This year is
the first in recent memory when the
paper has covered ASUO Student
Senate and other races in any depth,
and it was important to do so. Stu
dents should be involved with the
ASUO, and having a say in who gets
elected is the first step.
Perhaps it’s because the paper
interviewed every senatorial candi
date, or perhaps it’s because the in
terviews happened so early in the
process, but whatever the reason,
some candidates seem to have lit
tle idea what they’re getting into
and little idea what they want to
accomplish.
Would you show up to a job inter
view and tell the employer that you
sort of knew what the job entailed
and sort of had ideas, but you would
be sure to figure it all out as soon as
they hired you?
There were good candidates in the
mix, though, and we hope to shed
some light on them. We used no lit
mus test or one-size-fits-all philoso
phy when choosing. Each race de
manded something different.
For the record, the “rules” ques
tions didn’t weigh heavily in the edi
torial board’s decisions. It seemed
more important that candidates
knew the rules existed tha*h that
they could quote them. And some
candidates lost points by becoming
hostile or saucy when asked about
the rules. Politely saying “I don’t
know” seems more professional.
Whomever you choose to support,
be involved with your student gov
ernment and vote!
ASUO Executive
Maddy Melton
Eddy Morales
The candidates for ASUO Execu
tive have improved in the past few
years. As student leaders have be
come more professional, so have the
people wanting to follow their lead.
This year, four tickets seemed to
have their ducks in a row, and three
of them offer students a clear choice.
Jarrett White and Greg McNeill
are not the average “angry conserva
tive” ticket. They have some good
ideas, especially encouraging dis
senting voices to speak, and the edi
torial board shares their almost pop
ulist bias — that more “regular”
students should be involved in and
represented by their government.
Also, if you want to see OSPIRG dis
mantled as forcefully as President
George W. Bush is dismantling ter
rorism, White is your man.
On the other end of the “regular”
student spectrum is Christa Shively
and Greg Bae. Both are seasoned in
student government, and Shively
alone has enough experience to be
three ASUO insiders.
In the middle, though, is our
choice: Maddy Melton and Eddy
Morales. Both of them have been in
volved with the executive, for a short
time. Before that, both of them were
involved with student groups, work
ing alongside “regular” students. We
think this makes them especially fit
to represent the widest array of stu
dents possible, while still knowing
how to get things done in the execu
tive office.
The Melton-Morales and Shively
tickets easily have the
r.
strongest platforms, and in some
ways, they’re similar.
Both mention housing, although
working to let students out of unde
sirable living situations is a worthi
er cause than working to give them
greater food options — and both
will need Housing Director Mike
Eyster’s approval or a lot of grass
roots organizing. Melton and
Morales have experience in suc
cessful grassroots organizing.
Both tickets mention legislative is
sues, but Melton and Morales know
how to get this work done. They
both have worked so “regular” stu
dents would be heard by state and
federal lawmakers, and Melton has
lobbied in Washington, D.G., to en
sure greater access to higher educa
tion and increase student voter
turnout, among other issues.
Both tickets have outreach ideas,
and we think they’re all laudable, al
though we lean toward the Melton
Morales platforms of broadening
support of and ties with the gradu
ate, law and international student
communities through concrete ac
tion. The ASUO can be made
stronger if it’s less like a club and
represents more stakeholder groups
at the University.
As Melton herself said during
Monday night’s debates, every stu
dent has a different viewpoint, but
the important thing is what people
have in common. Melton and
Morales will best represent those
commonalities, and we urge you to
vote for them.
Senate Seat 1, PFC
Beth Overgard
In the first
PFG race, we
appreciate
Overgard’s
down-to-earth
answers and
straightforward
approach. Hav
ing an open
mind when ap
proaching stu
SddJKS Overgard
ets is critical,
and we’re positive student groups
agree with her top issue of concern:
“The biggest issue that each group
has in common would be bias within
the committees.” Overgard’s fresh
voice will be welcome on PFG.
Senate Seat 2, PFC
Greg Diamond
Diamond is
our hands
down winner.
He has politi
cal experience
working on a
gubernatorial
campaign, and
his familiarity
with student
government
snoweu. we *
agree that the Diamond
campus should
be a more vibrant place after class
es and would like to see
community-building events. We
like that he has concrete ideas and
knowledge about the cost of tu
ition and about accountability in
student fees. Diamond will bring
an open mind and open door to
the senate.
Senate Seat 3, PFC
Adrian Gilmore
This race was closer than Seat 2.
While Gilmore was a bit thin on con
crete ideas, he did know what he was
getting into and emphasized negotia
tion with stu
dent groups.
Even though it’s
not a senate
“duty,”
Gilmore’s focus
on equal and
fair representa
tion is worthy
of note. The
Aiyce Chong, Gilmore
but her answers
sounded like descriptions of what
she’s already done, instead of plans
for the future. For that, reason,
Gilmore edged her out and deserves
your vote.
Senate Seat 4, EMU
Rodrigo Moreno Villamar
Viliamar currently works closely
with student groups based in the
EMU, so he
knows what
they do and
what their
needs are bet
ter than the
other candi
dates. Attend
ing Multicul
tural Center
Board meet
ings gives nim _
the back- yiHamar
ground he
needs to work effectively as a sena
tor and an understanding of the
value of diversity on campus.
While we applaud his interest in
having group collaborate on cam
pus events, we would have liked
more specifics. Still, we appreciate
Villamar’s honesty about the rules,
and he is the best choice.
Senate Seat 6, EMU
Jerad Nicholson
This race is another slam-dunk.
Nicholson knows about the office for
which he’s running, lists tuition and
access to education as the top issues
for students,
ana wants to re
duce the gap be
tween “regular”
students and
student govern
ment. He’s well
spoken and ob
viously has
thought about
the job. In com
parison to rl—iJ I
James George, Nicholson
who said that
answering two questions about rules
was “harsh” and “more than a quiz,”
Nicholson is an easy choice.
Senate Seat 7, ADFC
Laura Schulthies
We are endorsing Schulthies,
partly because her interview was
the only one we had to work with.
We like that she would approach
the office in
tending to
“splash it up
with my own
personality and
goals.” Other
than that, we
have problems.
The Athletic
Department Fi
nance Com
1111UCC
?S&Sd ol Schulthi^
vacuous an
swers and confusion. We slogged
through and made the hard deci
sions, anyway. Vote for Schulthies.
Senate Seat 8, ADFC
Jesse Harding
Perhaps the only strong ADFC
candidate, Harding has experience
' Courtesy
in ASUO and is informed about what
ADr C actually
does. His lead
ership experi
ence and inter
est in the
process will
serve him well,
and students
will be served
by his concern
about student
tickets as well
as larger issues,
such as rising
tuition. Harding is the obvious
choice.
Senate Seat 9, ADFC
Kevin Day
■ft
Harding
1 his race has
no winners.
Day appeared
to be the lesser
of bad choices.
Patrick Sullivan
might be a fine
candidate, once
he looks into
the position.
Day
Senate Seat 13
A&L/Journalism
Stefan Myers
Myers won this race by the largest
margin of our endorsements, win
ning our preference voting system
with 17 times
as many points
as his nearest
competitor. My
ers was an ef
fective and in
volved leader at
Clackamas
Community
College (an edi
torial board
member was a
student there
Myers