By
Over the last week, the editorial board of the Louisville Cardinal has extensively researched the candidates for the top four positions of the upcoming Student Government Association elections: President, Executive Vice President, Academic Vice President, and Services Vice President.
Specifically, each candidate had the opportunity to be interviewed by the editors. During these interviews, the candidates were asked many questions concerning their views on the future of the University of Louisville and its students, their leadership skills and their experience, among other things.
These interviews were carried out as anonymously as possible, with each candidate receiving a random letter by which all board members were required to refer to them. Additionally, no indication was given to the evaluators regarding the slate of the candidates. Board members evaluated candidates based on their responses to a series of predetermined questions as well as clarifying follow-up questions.
Candidates were given a level of endorsement by each of the interviewers that was scaled numerically and averaged. Only after these numerical scores were tabulated were the names of the candidates matched with the letters.
When the names were revealed, we found that each of the candidates endorsed was a member of the same slate. Naturally, the editors realized that such uniform recommendations appear questionable to observers, but integrity would only allow adherence to the established system.
There were suggestions to change endorsements in races for particularly close positions to alleviate the appearance of bias. However, we ultimately determined that the only way to escape bias was to maintain the original recommendations, despite the possible appearance of impropriety.
Of the 12 candidates for the top for positions, nine made and kept appointments for interviews. This weighed heavily against the candidates who were not in attendance, as it is all but impossible to responsibly endorse a candidate without hearing them explain their positions. Candidates were informed of the Cardinal’s policy of interviewing and endorsing candidates at mandatory SGA candidate information sessions as well as by e-mail.
In retrospect, most of the candidates shared many platform positions regarding increasing communication between students, the SGA, faculty and staff; increased student involvement; parking and dining services. Given that, experience was the deciding factor in many of the endorsements, as it indicated a greater ability to achieve the established goals.
From Monday through Wednesday of next week, the student body will be asked to choose from a list of variously prepared candidates who have pledged to steer U of L in the right direction by leading the SGA.
This may not seem important to the average student, but the SGA controls a budget in excess of $600,000 that is allotted to various initiatives directly related to student life. For example, the SGA appropriates the budget of the Student Activities Board which is responsible for funding most campus-wide activities such as movies, concerts and other cultural, social or recreational events.
SGA also allocates funding to all recognized student organizations from the Pagan Student Association to the Porter Scholars. This includes base funding as well as supplemental funding if an RSO wanted to send delegates to a conference or have a special project.
In addition to funding, the SGA is responsible for sending student representatives to university-wide forums such as the committees on parking and the athletic association. These representatives are responsible for voicing student concerns about contentious issues such as the shortage of student parking and student ticket fees for sporting events.
Perhaps most importantly, the SGA President sits on the Board of Trustees for the university. In this capacity, he or she serves as the most direct conduit between the students and the most influential administrators at U of L.
Sighting the importance of these positions, it is the responsibility of concerned students to educate themselves on the merits and deficiencies of the candidates in order to vote for the candidate that would best represent their interests.
While we have worked hard to determine our recommendations, it is important that students review the Candidate Survey Responses and sample quotations in the SGA voter guide to the right. In it, you will find rankings of the candidates’ priorities, sample quotations, as well as the aforementioned endorsements in detail. Additionally, candidate Web sites will be available at
http://www.louisvillecardinal.com.
