Being president of the Student Association is a complex and demanding job requiring a variety of skills which, when combined, produce an effective and personable leader. Students yearn for a president with extensive leadership experience, a charismatic individual who knows he or she is merely an ordinary person given an extraordinary opportunity. Students look for a president with revolutionary vision who will realistically attack student issues with pragmatism. Students need a president capable of building relationships with University administrators without forgetting that he or she was elected by the students. After taking these factors into account and after long, careful and incredibly difficult deliberations, The Hatchet is proud to endorse Omar T. Woodard for president.
In our endorsement interviews, Woodard stood out in nearly all of the aforementioned categories. Woodard – president of the Black Student Union, member of the 2003 Colonial Cabinet, employee of property management and perhaps last year’s most prolific SA senator – has not simply distinguished himself in the SA political arena. Woodard has transformed the BSU, one of GW’s largest student groups, from a cultural entity into an advocacy organization concerned with black campus and national issues. His work in property management has given him key insight into residence hall issues usually neglected by SA administrations. As an SA senator, Woodard initiated legislation important and useful for students – such as his plan to put GWorld card readers on University vending machines. What distinguishes Woodard from many other senators is that he followed up on his legislation by making sure it was implemented.
In the upcoming year, Woodard’s familiarity with campus issues, coupled with his impressive vision, will produce tangible, important results for students. Such programs as a residence hall renewal project – by which the SA would conduct an in-depth analysis of the problems facing degenerating halls – and a potential online class waitlist system, as well as a substantial reform of the Student Code of Conduct, show a nuanced understanding of complicated campus issues. In his Hatchet interview, Woodard was remarkably articulate and responded well to difficult questions. These qualities will be incredibly important when taking student issues to University officials and fighting through traditional GW red tape. Woodard’s familiarity with many facets of the University administration will enable him to take his broad knowledge of campus issues to the administration in the most effective manner.
With Woodard, we can only hope that his charismatic, outgoing side will shine through. After a year of an SA administration that spent more time in Rice Hall than the Marvin Center, Woodard must be incredibly visible around campus to reinvigorate student opinion about the SA. While at first glance he seems quiet and unassuming, Woodard’s position on the Colonial Cabinet proves that he is capable of filling this role admirably.
We found it extremely difficult to endorse Woodard over current SA Vice President of Undergraduate Student Policy Isaiah Pickens. Pickens is one of the most genuine, warm and charismatic individuals you will find at GW. A native of Washington, D.C., and a graduate of the School Without Walls High School, Pickens also embodies many of the most important qualities of an SA president. He has participated in many activities while at GW. He was a member of the basketball team, is the president of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and received the Martin Luther King Junior Award for service to the campus community. His results as a VP in the SA are also impressive. In his role this year, Pickens oversaw a significant expansion of the University’s wireless Internet capabilities. His policy proposals, such as a making the SA an umbrella organization to serve students groups and his desire to create “GBay” – a Web site where students can buy and sell used textbooks – show a strong understanding of the president’s role. But while Pickens might be a more charismatic president – in the mold of Roger Kapoor and David Burt – The Hatchet feels that Woodard has similar strengths personality-wise and more imaginative policy ideas that make him a more favorable candidate.
Lee Roupas was the third candidate we seriously considered endorsing. An SA senator and current chairman of the GW College Republicans, Roupas has laid out many innovative policy proposals. His free DVD rental program out of Gelman Library, student employment in running a potential late-night pub in Quigley’s and proposed addition of student representatives to the Board of Trustees deserve recognition. In the end, however, we feel that Lee would simply be perpetuating the SA status quo and does not exude the charisma required in helping improve the image of student government. Clearly a member of the political group that has run the SA for a number of years, Roupas is the heir to the not-so-glamorous tradition of candidates like Josh Singer and Kris Hart. And while Hart did an admirable job in some areas this year, the SA needs a fundamental change in its leadership.
Student apathy is the No. 1 issue the SA must address in the upcoming year, and the SA president must be constantly engaged in activities on campus to give students a reason to care about their student government again. The candidate that is most poised to correct this problem, through innovative policy proposals and a vibrant presence on campus, is Omar T. Woodard.
