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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: Tiffany Meehan for Program Board chair

Program Board is one of those organizations that drifts on and off of students’ radars. It’s popular when Jason Mraz or PostSecret comes to campus, but when it’s not making headlines, it is largely forgotten.

That said, PB has the potential to put on some really great events, and students should take the time to make an informed choice when checking that ballot box.

With some reservations, Tiffany Meehan is the better candidate for the job of PB chair. Meehan, who currently holds this position, has had a year to learn from mistakes and has also delivered on some popular events.

While Fall Fest was a thoroughly underwhelming event, Meehan does take responsibility for her role in failing to deliver a popular artist, and she says that in the future she would start looking for artists earlier and would work more closely with the administration.

Even though she accepts responsibility for Fall Fest, Meehan still claims to be proud of the event. The problem with this is that student perception labels the event a failure, and that is how it should ultimately be perceived.

Meehan emphasized that if she was re-elected, her administration would focus on having more paid events, such as PostSecret and the Jason Mraz concert, while keeping prices within students’ budgets. This is a unique approach since it allows more programming while letting the students attend events they are enthusiastic about at manageable prices.

Meehan, with all of her experience, brings a lot more to the table than her opponent, sophomore Calder Stembel. Stembel is currently PB’s IT chair and has virtually no programming experience, if you take away booking ticket theater tickets for his living and learning cohort.

Stembel’s platform includes a strong emphasis on communication that utilizes technology such as Twitter, but when asked why, as IT chair, he hasn’t made it happen yet, Stembel reasoned that he was too busy this year with his other commitments.

While his platform includes reaching out to student organizations more and including them in smaller programming events, this candidate demonstrated very limited knowledge of the way that PB runs and of the contracts necessary to book a big-name artist. Unrealistic notions, such as booking a “back-up” artist in case your first one falls through, show that Stembel has much to learn before he would be ready to assume this post.

Meehan’s first semester had many missed opportunities, and this year’s endorsement of this candidate is rather hesitant. Still, her recent performance shows that the learning curve may have evened out, and of the two candidates, she is likely to be much more successful.

Readers can visit the Forum to comment on this editorial.

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