Editor’s Note: Jack Bartholet, a candidate for executive vice president, is one of the Editors-in-Chief of The News-Letter. We recognize that this puts the Editorial Board in a position to be unfairly influenced. However, we are confident that we have evaluated the candidates with the utmost objectivity and as much distance as possible. In reflecting on our personal experiences with both Bartholet and with Jason Plush, who is a former Sports Editor of the newspaper, we believe that we have been able to make better-informed judgments. Bartholet did not have any role in interviewing the tickets, and he has not written, edited or read this editorial before its publication.
Voting begins Friday, April 3 at 4 p.m. and continues until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, April 5.
In this year’s SGA Executive Board elections, three out of the four positions are uncontested. Only for the position of executive vice president does the student body have a choice. We find this lack of democracy appalling. It is unacceptable that the student body cannot produce enough candidates to make more than one competitive election. The sheer lack of interest in the leadership of the student body only reinforces the notion that Hopkins students are apathetic and unengaged.
Given this ridiculous situation, The News-Letter endorses Jason Plush for executive president, John Stanton for executive secretary and Matthew Bee for executive treasurer. While these candidates are acceptable and have no dire flaws, we would have liked a choice.
The only contended position in the election is that of executive vice president, which places junior Jack Bartholet against freshman Sarah Zappone, who is running with Plush, Stanton and Bee as a ticket. The News-Letter has chosen to endorse Jack Bartholet because he is unquestionably the better candidate for vice president.
The vice president’s job in the SGA is to run the weekly meetings as president of the Senate, serve as Head Parliamentarian and sort class senators into committees. As a previous Chief Justice of the SGA Judiciary, Bartholet was responsible for knowing the SGA constitution inside and out. As a former parliamentarian of his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, he is familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, the parliamentary procedures that the SGA also uses in its meetings. As current Editor-in-Chief of The News-Letter, we can say with confidence that he is well-versed in the issues that students care about, and he has shown that he is capable of leading a large student group and managing a committee structure.
In sharp contrast to the other ticket, we found Bartholet’s platform to be specific and well-thought-out, especially in his vision for SGA’s role on campus and its relationship with the administration. He believes that SGA should take a stance on controversial issues by passing resolutions and that it should uncouple itself from its identity as primarily a programming body. He emphasized that the SGA should not be afraid to take a stand against the administration on matters like alcohol and sexual assault. To have a tighter relationship with policy decisions at the University, Bartholet believes that the SGA needs to assert itself to administrators by demanding action from higher-ups, including from President Daniels, when the directives of Dean of Student Life Terry Martinez are insufficient.
We agree with Bartholet that SGA needs to be more proactive in asserting its right to influence policy decisions. We also agree with his understanding of the importance of meeting with administrators above the level of the Dean of Student Life because through these relationships, SGA will be seen as more legitimate.
The News-Letter chooses not to endorse Zappone because, although competent, she is not as qualified or prepared to assume the role of vice president.
We definitely see Zappone’s value to her ticket. She is enthusiastic, driven, charismatic and has served on SGA this past year. She has a couple goals in mind that she would like to accomplish, including the creation of a marketing and communications commission.
Bartholet, though, is simply better-suited to the vice presidential position than Zappone is. In fact, Bartholet recognizes that initiatives such as the marketing and communications commission, as well as the creation of executive agencies and a need for more transparency, as proposed by the Plush ticket, are unnecessary. We agree that SGA does not need executive agencies because it should be able to function within its current structure. The jobs of a marketing and communications commission should already fall under the job description of the secretary. SGA already has a good amount of transparency, but students don’t care enough to seek out information — and that is a separate issue entirely.
The News-Letter recognizes Zappone’s many good traits. However, her focus on marketing and website development, in addition to her personal skills, make her much more suited to the executive secretary position. Were she running for secretary instead of vice president, we would have endorsed her wholeheartedly.
Bartholet knows how the SGA works, and he knows how to govern as vice president. He was part of the initial effort to revise the SGA constitution, and we are confident that he would be able to productively contribute to that continuing process if elected. During his interview with this board, he had specific and detailed answers to all questions posed, which could not be said for Zappone. The News-Letter believes that Bartholet will lead the Senate with passion and perseverance, and will work hard to get the voice of the student body heard.
Considering Bartholet’s credentials and specific skill set, there is no contest as to who should be executive vice president of SGA next year.
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Plush has excellent qualifications, as he is currently a member of the junior class Senate and the president of Beta Theta Pi. He captains his club ice hockey team as well, works in admissions and used to be one of the Sports Editors on The News-Letter.
In all of these positions and in his capacity as head of his ticket, Plush has shown his ability to lead and inspire students. He has developed productive relationships with both administrators and fellow students alike, and we are confident that he will continue to do this if elected executive president.
Stanton and Bee are both new to SGA but have leadership experience from other organizations. As secretary, Stanton would be responsible for communication between SGA and students, such as advertising events, and for taking minutes and keeping records of SGA meetings. During the interview, Stanton did not speak very often, which is concerning for a person who is responsible for communication, offering little by way of a platform or goals for his time as secretary. While Stanton spoke about his desire for greater transparency between SGA and the student body, he did not mention any specific methods for accomplishing that goal.
As treasurer, Bee would serve as the head finance officer of the SGA and head officer of the Student Activities Commission, which funds student groups and on which he has previously served. Bee spoke about his plan to provide grants for student-run businesses and other initiatives, and while The News-Letter believes that this idea certainly has merit, Bee, too, was unspecific about his plan to execute the initiative.
Plush’s ticket had many larger goals and aims for next year, but its platform was overall vague and often underdeveloped.
The candidates emphasized the importance of casual relationships with administrators as a strategy for influencing policy. At the same time, they expressed a desire to make SGA more autonomous and more of an independent governing body; a casual relationship with the administration would jeopardize this. While it is definitely important to have a good working relationship with the Office of the Dean of Student Life and other offices, they shouldn’t want to jeopardize SGA’s legitimacy by being too informal. If they want to avoid the perception that SGA is in the administration’s pocket, becoming friends with Hopkins officials is not the way to go. The ticket also floated the idea of “office hours” where students would be able to interact with the Executive Board; we are doubtful that students will take advantage of these.
The ticket talked about the need to get SGA more involved in policy decisions and controversial matters that affect the entire student body — such as with Greek life or sexual assault issues. We absolutely agree that SGA should be playing a larger role in policy than it currently does. However, the candidates did not discuss specific ways by which they planned to do so or by what routes SGA could influence policy any more than it already does.
In these examples, we understand the good intentions of the ticket, but we worry that the candidates have not fully formulated their plans, and we hope that if elected, they will find ways to accomplish their goals.
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We want to conclude this endorsement by reiterating how disappointed we are in the student body. We are absolutely aghast that three of four SGA Executive Board positions are undisputed, and for a student body so vocal about changing the status quo on the Homewood campus, we would have expected more students to run. The race for the privilege of being in a group like this should be — and has been in the past — a serious competition. Many of you may not think that SGA has much power, but that fact can absolutely change with leaders who are determined to represent the student body in a meaningful way. A motivated SGA Executive Board has the power to ignite significant change.
Dissent among the student body is worthless without anyone to convert its emotional power into positive change. Colleges need campus leaders; no college deserves to have an apathetic student body. It simply isn't what these four years are about. The Homewood student body should be more politically active on campus and should take a more engaged, interested role in its future. The News-Letter sincerely hopes that there is never an election like this again. It’s embarrassing.
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