StuCo hopefuls promise the world - Closer to Home

In preparation for covering my last (and first) Student Council Executive Council vote, I figured it'd be helpful to read up on a few positions and get a sense of what people wanted to do as president of StuCo.

I've come away with the overwhelming impression that none of these people know what they're running for. Based on their statements, StuCo presidential candidates think they're running for the omnipotent Lord and God of the student body.

Unfortunately for them -- or fortunately for us -- the job they're actually going to get comes closer to head gavel-banger. Loud. Obnoxious. Gets attention. Has no real power, other than if other people listen to him.

The StuCo Constitution says that the president's sole responsibility is to chair meetings of the full Executive Council and full Student Assembly. That's it.

In contrast to this unflattering reality, here's a sample of what some candidates for StuCo president say they will accomplish, from their statements and Web sites (Full disclosure: one of the candidates, Michael Huerta, writes for this page):

Hyder Syed: "This election has the potential to forever change the political and social landscape of Johns Hopkins." It's not that this might not be true, it's that his position just doesn't give him the power to bring about this awe-inspiring "change." Others do the work in the new StuCo, the president only officiates.

Soren Gandrud: "I will expand E-level activities, offer more club events and sponsor more study breaks." Gandrud should have read the Constitution before hand. All of these signature initiatives more clearly fall under the vice president for entertainment position. That's the person who would be able to implement his platform.

Stephen Sandford: "Our Council needs to be accountable to the voters through widely publicized and easily accessible elections. If we cannot count on the Board of Elections to fix and make public the dates and times of elections far in advance, that duty should be shouldered by the Student Council instead."

Sandford sounds like a perfect candidate for the Board of Elections. If Sandford really thinks that BoE has messed up, he should consider running for it. Students should debate the extremely tight schedule of elections. But that's the job of the Board of Elections, which for the simple reason that the people being elected shouldn't control their own election is very separate from Student Council.

Alternatively, he should run for the Committee on Leadership Appointments, which selects the Board of Elections chairs.

Eric Wolkoff: "Student Council must improve record on food. Student Council must engage the administration in discussion and not drop the ball on opportunities to improve meal plan."

According to the bylaws and Constitution, the vice-president for student life would handle this one item (there are many others on his platform), and the president has no power to order the vice-president around.

Wolkoff does have a "creative" method around his lack of power: give himself more. The final section of his platform details "presidential commissions" that would be empowered to investigate issues and run events. Charles Reyner, the current StuCo president, informs me, however, that these commissions do not exist in either the Constitution or the bylaws and are wholly a figment of Wolkoff's imagination. This is the supreme Soviet method of dealing with democracy: If your position doesn't give you the power you want, just give yourself and your friends more.

Michael Huerta: "Double Student Activities Commission funding. A weekend shuttle from Hopkins to stops in Downtown. [sic]" If he wants to help with SAC funding, he should run for Student Council treasurer of the Committee on Finance: That's their area of responsibility and power. Coming from those areas, he might better understand the origins of the SAC funding amount. Similarly, a downtown shuttle would be handled by the vice president of student life, because, after all, it is a student life issue.

It's not as if everyone's this ignorant of their jobs. Reyner realized that his goals, namely ensuring that the reserves held a full set of class exams, could best be implemented by running for the vice president of student life, which has been given jurisdiction over academics. His opponent, Nattavadee Temkasem, has served on the Residential Advisory Board, heard students' complaints and would like an opportunity to address them. For both of these candidates, the position they seek can affect and solve the issues they'd like to address.

Is it so much to ask that people who want to be president know what they're applying for? Unless they already know they can't do what they say, in which case they're liars and cheats just in search of a resume line. That kind of representation we don't need.

Raphael Schweber-Koren is the opinions editor for the News-Letter.