Now that Dead Week’s underway and final exams loom ahead, it’s time to follow media tradition and dole out some grades on our campus’ leaders — student and otherwise.
* The Elections Commission – A: Despite gripes from the candidates themselves, the group responsible for conducting elections this year has been among the best N.C. State has ever had. The leadership provided was always above-board, and they pushed as hard as they could for student autonomy when their opponent was a University administration holding all the power. Even with the few justifiable criticisms made, such as the intemperate feuding among certain Commissioners aired in this very paper, the elections went forward and enjoyed one of the highest turnouts in NCSU’s history. Most important: this has been the first corruption-free Commission in memory.
* Student Senate – C-: By any objective standard, this year’s Student Senate has done more work to promote student interests than any in recent history. From the politically savvy “Chained By Tuition” campaign to the best-attended Camp-Out since the still-infamous 2000 event, the student body clearly recognized the Senate’s raft of accomplishments when it delivered an unquestionable mandate making senator Zach Adams the Senate’s next president and senator Adam Compton one of the youngest treasurers in the University’s history. But despite these many successes, the Senate became known for the one thing that could overshadow everything else: it’s overzealous distaste for the student body president. The late and ham-fisted impeachment attempt in particular should have been aborted before it began.
* President Whil Piavis – F: That’s not to say the man elected as the Pirate Captain wasn’t deserving of enmity. Elected as a joke, Student Body President Whil Piavis never missed an opportunity to rise to the occasion. An unapologetic sellout on tuition and fee issues, the first student body president in history to advocate for the wholesale disenfranchisement of those who elected him… the long list of shame goes on and on. Emblematic of Piavis’ presidency: a letter to the campus, still in a folder in the Student Government office, urging students to attend a “Mission: Mardi Gras” event that was going to be held in October 2005 — and never took place until last Friday, six months later, under the leadership of new SBP Will Quick. I’m personally ashamed to admit I ever disgraced this paper by supporting Piavis in my columns and the very best that can be said of his tenure is that it’s finally over.
* Senate President Forrest Hinton – A+: A near-mirror image to the Pirate Captain, Senate President Forrest Hinton has run his chamber with a level of savviness and political intelligence beyond many of his most-talented predecessors. His leadership of the Senate was palpable at every meeting, and his principled defense of student rights earned him intense criticism from all the right detractors. That he was able to pull it off with such a disgrace in the student body president’s office makes his term that much more impressive. It’s a shame voters will be losing Hinton to the education arena — he’d make a damn fine politician.
* Technician – C-: Producing a newspaper five days a week isn’t easy even for professionals, and the staff members of Technician invest hours of their time to bring you something worth reading beyond just a crossword puzzle or Sudoku. But Technician wasn’t without controversy this year, from “sorostitutes” to drunken driving to student disenfranchisement. Its defense of these self-inflicted controversies was incoherent while its editorial position on others was an embarrassment that dismissed the paper’s own history. New Editor-in-Chief Tyler Dukes promises to turn the paper around, and fortunately he has a dedicated staff to help him — but the student body rightly expects nothing less.
* The UNC Association of Student Governments – D-: Like the Land of Misfit Toys, this group of Student Government rejects spent another year wasting another $180,000.00 of your money with absolutely nothing to show for its efforts. The ineptness has prompted a campaign dubbed “I Want My $1 Back” to try and de-fund the Association until it can provide real leadership — a tall order for the group’s newly-elected President.
* Dr. Tom Stafford – S: There are few people on this campus who dislike the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and as the well-paid “face of the University” to the Student Body he deserves credit for that. His positions on certain critical issues were disappointing, especially when they were prompted by a few particular students, but there should be little dispute he’s earned his salary for the year.
* Chancellor James Oblinger – IP: With his one-year anniversary last Thursday, there’s near-universal agreement that Chancellor Oblinger is an approachable leader with strong potential. But criticisms of the University still abound, from the search for a new basketball coach to the widespread perception that NCSU acts like the #2 power in the UNC system — despite being the largest university with the brightest leaders. Oblinger will have to face those criticisms in the years ahead, but it’s too early for his legacy to be written yet.
* American Values – A+: For a year of unprecedented controversies, with administrators bailing out a Student Body President too inept to defend himself, with the first-ever cancellation of elections because part-time students filed to run for offices they help finance… it was a reassuring year for American principles. Flaws in our system of self-governance were exposed for future generations to correct, and when issues were put directly to the Student Body to decide — be it student enfranchisement or Chief Justice Lock Whiteside’s demand to raise the standard of proof used by the University to convict students of conduct violations — those student voters delivered overwhelming mandates in favor of the same home-grown values that made our country great.
On one final note, I wanted to sincerely thank all of you who have read my columns throughout the year. I truly appreciate your support, and I hope all of you have a great summer!
Send your comments to Greg at [email protected].
