After being elected last year, my opponents called me "irresponsible" for running for president as I would only have one semester here. Perhaps this was a good thing, as it has put me on a mission to prove them wrong. I have already gotten more proposals passed in Senate than any of my competitors (one proposal), have met with members of the administration once a week if not more, and co-organized (with Rylan Burns '09) Amherst's first Lose the Shoes 3v3 Soccer Tournament, which involved over 100 participants. If you ask me, we should have club heads and active community service leaders take the places of senators and e-board members. These people are the ones who have already proven that they are passionate about the school and have the motivation to make change.
Last year, the vice president, treasurer, secretary and Judiciary Council chair positions all went uncontested in the elections! That is to say that every executive board position in the Senate-supposedly the most sought-after positions-were being given away. On multiple occasions, the adminstration has had to extend the deadlines for people to run for Senate because they didn't have enough candidates to fill the seats. WHY??
One thing that's been made clear to me is that many students don't have a clue what our student Senate does. That's where this column will prove useful. Each week, I will write a brief article telling you what the Senate has been doing or not doing. Its goal will be to inspire participation and to help find the best qualified president to take over in January.
The first issue I will bring forth was raised by the College Council-made up of faculty (mostly deans) and students-dealing with the content and signing of the honor code. Should we have first-years sign the honor code upon arrival? Should we change part of the honor code? What's the point if the consequences of violating it will still apply whether or not we sign it? Having an honor code gives us a chance to change it every time it comes under review, but such a change needs to be approved by the faculty. The honor code can be found in the Student Handbook; the College Council asks that if you have an opinion on the matter, please e-mail me at mazeidan@amherst.edu.
In the end, we need to understand that our student senators represent our views and those we elect determine what ideas are implemented and which ones are not. It'd be nice to know that the people making these decisions are the ones who care deeply about the reputation of the school and its members. After all, the student leaders at Amherst will be leaders in the real world.
We have a responsibility to each other and to ourselves to hold our leaders accountable. What if I was irresponsible to run for president knowing I only had one semester left? How much of this responsibility lies with the 725 who voted? Or the 500 who didn't?