While Jay Dawkins finishes up his presidency as the customary lame duck, he’ll be able to look back and point to some tangible accomplishments and programs that broadened the impact of Student Government into the individual student’s life. Something that really isn’t easy when you consider the scope of the power that the office truly holds.
Realistically, there is only so much that a student body president can do as an executive within a fundamentally representative organization like a Student Government; the trick to success is to figure out how to maximize the little executive power within the office and balance it with the tremendous advocacy potential that the office carries as the students’ “representative in chief.”
Aside from the apparent lack of interest in lower level offices of Student Government, the field for student body president this election was about as diverse and well rounded as the field for the 2008 Presidential Primaries. Each candidate had his or her own unique niche in the University and for the most part campaigned on their past experiences. One brought sustainability to the table, another brought years of gloryless representative work for students on academic issues and another took his computer science experience and put it to use by developing a radical concept of “open source” student government. All candidates brought unique, and fairly practically, well-thought-out ideas that fit right in with the core student government power of representation with limited power to execute.
Student Body President-elect Jim Ceresnak’s biggest weakness coming into office is his extreme lack of experience within Student Government. Whether or not that’s an actual weakness is debatable considering it’s always nice to see someone from the outside break up the monotony of a system that’s mired in the bureaucracy of the University. But regardless of the cynics, navigating the tangled webs will prove challenging.
He’ll need some experienced staff to help him get his agenda off the ground because for all his charisma, mastery of the Student Senate’s complex political process, as well as the University’s confusing system of committees, will be essential to the success of his agenda.
With all the ideas candidates brought to the table and all the years of experience, some of that help for Ceresnak may lie a bit further down the ballot when the results are finally officially announced. Some of these candidates have the necessary skills to take Ceresnak’s charisma and turn it into results within his upcoming administration. The point isn’t to embrace its ideas and create a blanket agenda but instead to create a culture of excellence within an administration.
Put Anup Engineer in charge of sustainability because he has the managerial experience, the passion to serve and knowledge on the issue. Give Amber Joyner the position to work on academic issues and let her have the leeway to continue to produce results the way she has for the past two years and let Adam Cloninger teach you the internal politics of the bureaucracy. It’s a modern day “team of rivals” that would make Abraham Lincoln proud and it will bring the best minds in student government together to work for the common good of the students as well as embrace the good components of each candidate’s run for student body president.