Elevation e-board choices OK, but can’t back platform
by Jacob Drum
Voting begins today in the elections for next year’s Student Association executive board. Last week Generation editors listened to the candidates’ presentations, pestered them with questions until late on a Monday night, and then made our decisions.
We interviewed one independent treasurer candidate and the Elevation ’05 Party ticket for e-board endorsements. Made up of current SA officers and staff, Elevation ‘05 is the only full ticket party in this year’s election.
After discussion amongst the editors, we agreed that the candidates from Elevation ’05 were the most qualified of those running for SA president, vice president, and treasurer. That said, we cannot endorse anyone for these positions.
Endorsement implies choice, and in this election the students have few choices, none for president.
What does it say about UB’s undergraduates when the only candidates for the top positions in student government are veterans of the current SA administration? Some blame student apathy. Others, including SA incumbents, say it proves the students are pleased with SA’s performance and the direction of its leadership.
Either way, Generation doesn’t believe that the best we can hope for from our student government is the status quo. SA has increased its focus on entertainment and self-promotion in recent years, leaving less time and resources for its role as an advocate for the student body. Judging by their platform, Elevation ’05 candidates seem poised to continue this trend.
Can’t we have a serious, concerted effort to fight proposed SUNY tuition hikes and sign talented artists for Spring Fest? It’s not too much to ask, and the absence of a candidate who exemplifies this kind of thinking prevents Generation from endorsing any of the e-board candidates we interviewed.
Mike Telesford, the independent candidate for treasurer, has sufficient experience with student finances from his time as assistant bookkeeper for SA, but his main idea for reform, corporate sponsorship of SA clubs, lacked an implementation strategy. While his ideas were fresh and out of the mainstream, during interviews he expressed an opinion that SA is a business. This take on undergraduate student government is hard for us to support.
Dela Yador and Sonia Kang are the Elevation ’05 candidates for president and vice president, respectively. Both are experienced student leaders: Yador is the current SA vice president and a former promotions director, and Kang is the vice president of the Faculty Student Association (FSA).
During his term as the current vice president of SA, Yador has built a reputation as an effective and approachable student leader; The Spectrum dubbed him “one of the most accessible SA e-board members in recent memory” in their endorsement of his candidacy. Accordingly, SA staffers say Kang’s time as assistant treasurer displayed her ability to interact well with club leaders, a quality she’ll need in a position focused on coordinating club efforts.
Elevation ’05 treasurer candidate Mazin Kased is the current chair of the SA Senate, and president of the Organization of Arab Students (OAS). A member of the Senate Finance Committee, he has experience with the ins and outs of SA’s budget process. His people-managing skills don’t hurt him either; as chair of the SA Senate, Kased has often had to smooth out disputes and broker compromise amongst the student legislators.
The drawbacks to the Elevation ’05 ticket come from their platform. Their main initiatives focus on the same areas of SA that the administrations before them did: entertainment, expansion, and student services. All well and good, but what about the SA e-board’s role as the face and voice of UB’s undergraduates?
Generation feels that while they are qualified, the Elevation ’05 candidates’ platform strays too far from a balanced role. Perhaps if SA officials have mastered the task of keeping undergraduates content and amused, they can now turn their considerable talents to fighting for a student voice in UB affairs and SUNY politics, especially considering looming tuition increases.
SA Treasurer: Mike Telesford
By Timothy Lowden
Running as an independent, Mike Telesford came into our office looking a bit hesitant. His biggest emphasis was on getting corporate sponsorship for our clubs in order to ease the financial burden for the individual members. Besides that, he lacked details on what it would take to be the treasurer of such a large body. He stated that he would love to bring back The Buffalonian (the former UB yearbook, which is no longer printed). When asked if he had a strong enough personality to do the job, he cited astrology. “I don’t know if you guys are into science, but I’m a Virgo, so I have a very strong personality.” To his credit, Mike has a whopping load of experience in financial issues, having been treasurer for the Public Relations Student Society of America, the National Society of Black Engineers Upstate Zone, and the Hall Council of the RHA. Unfortunately, he didn’t win us over. He deserves credit for having the guts to go it alone, but in the end Mike Telesford just didn’t have the grasp of details required for job that would allow us to endorse him.
