Recently there has been much political ado afoot on campus. The SGA elections are here, and, as usual, so are the campaigns. I was looking forward to the campaigns this year, not only because I as a former SGA member decided not to run, but also because-honestly-the pizzazz over nothing does entertain me.
The most interesting campaign this year thus far is "Expect More", championing the Target sign as their unifying symbol. Apparently Target is now selling politicians-but you better get there quick, as the buy two presidents and get one free deal will end soon. I decided to give their campaign a chance, however, despite knowing the candidates and having a good sense of their platform, or, more accurately, the lack thereof. I thus proceeded to peruse over one of their flyers, and browse their website, looking for novel ideas about how to improve the campus-or at least a reason to vote for them. Alas, I found none; however, I did learn that they would like to foster unity, the most commonly used word by politicians who have no clue what they'd like to do in office but would really like to get elected. I also learned that they'd like to build trust between the student body and SGA, although I have no idea how. I'm guessing that their campaign of hollow slogans and fluffy language isn't going to do it, though.
Please don't misinterpret me: the candidates running on the "Expect More" ticket are good and decent people-honestly they are. But good people or not, their campaign for the top jobs in SGA, the government that is supposed to stand up for our rights against The College and multi-million dollar monopolizing corporations, consists of no tangible ideas whatsoever. Perhaps instead of "unity", the "Expect More" ticket should work on actually fostering ideas and a little courage of conviction in SGA. I did my best this year as the Vice President of Administration and Finance, but it's not exactly easy when you have almost the entire Executive Board, backed by most of the Senate, trying to shut you up. Then again, I did speak my mind freely-and we all know that SGA must do everything it can to squelch free speech; otherwise, we'd actually be given a choice between reform and rhetoric-and I think deep down SGA knows which one would win.
Proudly,
Matthew Civiletti
Former VP of Administration and Finance, SGA
