It is unfortunate that English junior and Student Government Association senator Maria Rossi is running for Student Government Association vice president rather than president. In an election filled with candidates looking to push their own agendas into university policy, Rossi stands out as a vice presidential candidate who will stay true to her role as a liaison between students and the SGA president. Her ambition and desire to make the Loyola student community’s interests a priority are ideal characteristics for an outstanding SGA leader, and she will benefit students if elected.
Rossi has made clear her improvements for a more effective and efficient student government — in addition to the contributions she has already made, like working on the Constitutional Review Committee and updating important documents. In an effort to increase student involvement in SGA decisions, she plans to publicly post senate meeting minutes — a practice that has been neglected with the current administration — and promote a hierarchy of communication, in which ideas and proposals will pass from students to senators to the vice president. Though some have argued that Rossi is not focusing enough on broader issues outside of more communication and reforming SGA, she has addressed how to handle the main responsibilities of a vice president. Rossi also passionately pushes for representatives to follow through with their yearly initiatives.
Rossi’s opponent, music junior and SGA senator Chris Castaneda, plans to focus on sustainability, common curriculum reform and scholarship reform. The Maroon believes these issues are best left for a president to handle. Castaneda would make a good vice president, but Rossi would make a great vice president.
8 comments
Although the position of Vice-President is less illustrious than that of the President, the Vice-President runs the Senate. Without Senate approval, the President is hobbled. With the approval of the Senate, the Vice-President can do almost anything. A strong, smart, and charismatic Vice-President can accomplish much more than an unpopular President (something that has been an issue this year). The office of Vice-President is limited only by the ambition and ability of the Vice-President. In this case, Mr. Castaneda's supposedly outsized agenda is really an asset. Knowing from experience that Castaneda is extremely competent and ambitious, if humble, I have no doubt that he can accomplish his goals as well as the SGA President could. There is no reason for Castaneda to focus on small, less important issues, when he is perfectly capable of taking on the biggest problems we face, and tackling them.
With all due respect to the staff of the Maroon: You put out an excellent newspaper. That is your area of expertise. It is very obvious that you have put a huge amount of time and energy into producing your admiral oublication. It is also very obvious that you did not put that time and energy into learning about the inner workings of the SGA, its possibilities, personnel, or duties of those personal. As an SGA insider, your ignorance is understandable. The SGA is not transparent, in fact, it is rather Byzantine. Next election, however, I hope you work a litter harder to educate yourself before you pass a summary judgement. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=77140080189&ref=mf