On those SG Campaign Promises…

Last year’s Student Government election was a miserable experience for the candidates and volunteers involved. Early disqualifications, a ridiculous lawsuit, and more disqualifications left a bitter taste in the mouths of the few students who actually bothered to vote in the end. One campaigner summed the nightmare up pretty well when he confessed,

This has been the most stressful few weeks of my life. … I have three weeks of laundry piled up.”

Out of that circus came two candidates who managed to keep cool throughout the six weeks and stayed above the fray: Thor Lund and Wills Brown.

Their platform had a few planks that seemed to be far stretches to the more established insiders within Student Government. Few gave the “24 hour PCL” much credibility. I did not think we would be able to afford it. Expanding “food options” on campus sounded like it would get lost in the red tape. Their transparency initiatives simply came across as the cookie cutter fillers that every candidate throws into their agenda. Yet, after a very productive summer, Thor and Wills are delivering.

The PCL will be open 24 hours a day, five days a week starting in October. Jester City Market will be open later. State of the Forty Acres will be a monthly video address updating students on key projects and initiatives of Student Government. They are constantly tweeting their activities from @ThorWills2012, rather than letting the former campaign account sit idly in the Twitterverse.

The school year has just barely begun and the two still have a lot of work to accomplish. My biggest hope is that they will be a strong voice for students when it comes to dealing with the political forces that impact our university. Empowered by being the “official voice of students,” Thor and Wills have the potential to effectively defend student interests.

Y’all, I do not want The University of Texas to become a business-style degree factory. I do not want to see the 83rd Legislature make even more drastic cuts to higher education. I do not want tuition to rise and increase the burden on broke college kids just because the those in charge failed us.

When it comes these and many other issues facing our student body, I am counting on them and their administration to deliver. For our sake, let’s hope that they do.

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