2008 Woodie Awards
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Opinions
Staff editorial; Editorial Board Endorses SG Executive Candidates
3/5/07
President: Joe Vidulich
Unlike the endorsements for the other positions, the endorsement for president was not necessarily an easy one to make. Voters are presented with three options: one mostly joke candidate, a write-in candidate who means well but doesn't come close to having enough experience and someone deeply entrenched in the SG. Vidulich is the least of these evils, and does have some good, promising ideas.
Ben Dwertman is running on a platform that is 90 percent joke. "Hoyas of mass destruction" sent from Georgetown to blow up Mary Graydon Center? Catching Dr. V? Unlikely. Even Dwertman admits that he has little experience and doesn't expect to win. In reality, though, Dwertman does have a few good ideas. Reforming AU e-mail and making all syllabi available online before registration are actually really good ideas that would benefit the student body. Unfortunately, Dwertman chose to present those ideas in a way that makes students completely unable to trust his leadership.
John Eric Lingat is energetic, but seems too naive to successfully fill the position. Leadership roles as an RA and secretary of a fraternity aren't sufficient learning experience to become SG president. He describes himself as someone who usually takes a background leadership role, which isn't the type of person who should be the figurehead of a 6,000-person undergraduate student body. He doesn't seem to have any concrete ideas outside of bringing back freshman beanie day, and we're pretty sure there's a good reason that tradition died.
On the surface, Vidulich is everything an SG president should be. He loves AU, has loads of experience working with both students and university administrators and runs on a very concrete platform. He also lived up to his promise to use his past year after losing in last year's SG president race working to improve AU through his work with the Blue Crew.
Some have reservations about someone with his personality type, particularly his communication abilities, in the position. His interpersonal skills may need some work. Nonetheless, he purports to understand the importance of being open and available to address concerns and communicate with all student media outlets, which is a positive thing.
Unlike the endorsements for the other positions, the endorsement for president was not necessarily an easy one to make. Voters are presented with three options: one mostly joke candidate, a write-in candidate who means well but doesn't come close to having enough experience and someone deeply entrenched in the SG. Vidulich is the least of these evils, and does have some good, promising ideas.
Ben Dwertman is running on a platform that is 90 percent joke. "Hoyas of mass destruction" sent from Georgetown to blow up Mary Graydon Center? Catching Dr. V? Unlikely. Even Dwertman admits that he has little experience and doesn't expect to win. In reality, though, Dwertman does have a few good ideas. Reforming AU e-mail and making all syllabi available online before registration are actually really good ideas that would benefit the student body. Unfortunately, Dwertman chose to present those ideas in a way that makes students completely unable to trust his leadership.
John Eric Lingat is energetic, but seems too naive to successfully fill the position. Leadership roles as an RA and secretary of a fraternity aren't sufficient learning experience to become SG president. He describes himself as someone who usually takes a background leadership role, which isn't the type of person who should be the figurehead of a 6,000-person undergraduate student body. He doesn't seem to have any concrete ideas outside of bringing back freshman beanie day, and we're pretty sure there's a good reason that tradition died.
On the surface, Vidulich is everything an SG president should be. He loves AU, has loads of experience working with both students and university administrators and runs on a very concrete platform. He also lived up to his promise to use his past year after losing in last year's SG president race working to improve AU through his work with the Blue Crew.
Some have reservations about someone with his personality type, particularly his communication abilities, in the position. His interpersonal skills may need some work. Nonetheless, he purports to understand the importance of being open and available to address concerns and communicate with all student media outlets, which is a positive thing.
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