After a year of ineffective leadership, the Student Association has not only lost credibility with the student body; it has also lost purpose. With repeated student calls to disband the SA and overhaul the Senate, the body is now searching not just to reconnect with students, but also for a reason to exist. At one point, The Hatchet Editorial Board even considered calling for the organization’s abolition.
This year, the executive failed in almost all of its initiatives and the Senate is bereft of any major accomplishments, save a shuttle bus service to Dulles airport. Even the SA presidential race, usually filled with the campus’ most charismatic leaders, is this year generally a lackluster competition among underwhelming candidates with clich? platforms – with one notable exception.
Lamar Thorpe distinguished himself as the most charismatic of the group, exhibiting not only a clear understanding of student issues but also a refreshing ability to lead and conviction of purpose. Thorpe’s positive and pragmatic approach to the race makes him the only candidate with the potential to bring back credibility and purpose to the SA. The Hatchet enthusiastically endorses Lamar Thorpe in his bid for the SA presidency.
Thorpe is a natural leader with a great deal of enthusiasm. Last year, during his first run for the presidency, The Hatchet found Thorpe to be enthusiastic and charismatic, but lacking in the experience and pragmatism necessary to successfully advocate for students. After a year working on the Joint Committee of Faculty and Students, Thorpe has added experience as well as achievements to his resum?.
On the JCFS, Thorpe was effective in an initiative to place condoms in the residence halls and has advocated for an Africana studies major in the Elliott School of International Affairs. He embraced his role in the lower-level student bureaucracy to accomplish realistic goals, which is more than can be said for other candidates with SA experience. Although some might characterize his accomplishments in the JCFS as minor, we see them as an example of Thorpe’s ability to take a mandate and follow through. With a mandate as SA president, he should be effective in maximizing his time to bring back integrity and purpose to the SA.
Integrity in the SA will return when the organization is able to effectively advocate for student concerns. Thorpe understands that effective advocacy requires professional relationships with University administrators rather than a barrage of meaningless Senate resolutions. During his interview, Thorpe displayed an extensive understanding of the need to navigate a variety of University departments to achieve his goals – a point lost on many candidates who seemed to think that GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is directly in control of all University operations.
Successful advocacy also requires a leader with the poise to approach administrators. After spending time in the Navy prior to enrollment at GW, Thorpe seems to have gained a level of poise and maturity in his speech no other candidate can match.
Even so, Thorpe’s intense enthusiasm is simultaneously an asset and a weakness. At some points he seems so overzealous about his agenda that we harbor concerns about his ability to be self-critical. Regardless, his other strengths far outweigh this concern.
Another candidate that received consideration was Casey Pond. A great speaker with SA experience, Pond could be an effective president. At this point, however, he has spent too much time as vice president of public affairs shielding President Audai Shakour from scandals and failures. He has become too entrenched in the SA, and it would serve him well to spend a year working on his agenda and reconnecting with students outside of the SA. Instead of mitigating the SA’s credibility gap with the student body, his idea for a Board of Representatives composed of student leaders will only add another level of bureaucracy.
Another candidate of note, current Executive Vice President Morgan Corr, is also a serious contender for the SA’s top post. However, we have significant concerns about Corr’s ability to effectively operate as SA president.
Corr is an extremely nice person and a competent candidate. He understands not only the operation of the SA from his extensive experience, but also has dealt with various levels of the University bureaucracy. Unfortunately, Corr seems to believe that top University administrators are inherently adversarial to student interests, making him a divisive figure whose previous battles might mar his ability to advocate for students.
His great institutional knowledge comes from his long involvement in the SA. During his interview with The Hatchet, Corr did not seem to have an ability to admit involvement in SA failures under his tenure, instead placing blame on ineffective SA presidents. Corr had his chance to shine this year as EVP, yet cannot claim a single major accomplishment other than a shuttle bus service to Dulles airport. To avoid more of the same inefficacy from the SA, voters should probably steer clear of the same ineffective leaders.
Elliot Rozenberg was underwhelming during his interview. He has a long list of grievances with the University that are out of the reach of the SA president. Nate Hayward has good intentions but is not a serious candidate. He is most interested in diversity issues and would benefit his agenda most by working as the director of diversity affairs for the next SA president. Nick D’Addario has a clich? platform that is thrown out each year by most candidates but never achieved. He also misunderstands some of the issues he is advocating. For instance, he wants to pressure the administration for more wireless Internet hotspots on campus, but this is an initiative that the University has been pursuing over the past year and continues to improve. Daniel Mittelberger, this year’s “joke candidate,” came into his interview wearing a funny hat and a dog collar. However, he seemed serious about University policy when asked questions. Where’s the joke, Daniel?
The SA is coming off the worst year that any current student can remember. It requires a presidential candidate who understands the limits of the SA but also has the integrity and enthusiasm to refocus the SA’s purpose. Lamar Thorpe is the only candidate this year with the charisma, pragmatism and potential to bring the SA out of its current doldrums and back into some semblance of relevance.
