The Student Body Constitution was established “to preserve within the University an atmosphere of free discussion, inquiry, and self-expression, to insure the personal freedom and general welfare of the Student Body and to continue in our tradition of responsible self-government.” This is the end goal that all of our elected student representatives should strive for.

Last week, our current Student Body President, Andy Walsh, released a statement that wholeheartedly endorsed one of the three students running for the office of Student Body President. He said in the statement that the SBP is a “position who can fight for students who may share a different opinion from their own and advocate with professionalism 24 hours each day.” If this were actually the case, Andy would have spared us his opinion. 

I find it ironic that our Student Body President, the person we chose to advocate for all students, would release such a biased and uninformed statement. This endorsement came in the middle of the campaign, prior to the Diversity Office and Technician debates. Furthermore, he mentions that he believes this candidate has a “platform that is achievable,” a statement that is comical when comparing that platform to Andy’s old one.

Andy may not have broken any written rules, but he did break a lot of unwritten ones. I unfortunately cannot take back my endorsement and vote from last year, but thankfully this is another year and a new election. 

I encourage you to do the research on your own. Many empty promises have been given and will be given throughout the remainder of this election, but none of these will compare to the one Andy made when he was sworn in. 

We all now know who our Student Body President wants to win, but is this really who the students want?