I am an employee of the Student Association. I work the desk on Wednesdays and Fridays. I have done so since January 2015. I have observed what goes on and got to know most of the people who have worked in the office. I was here when last year’s election between SA President Nathan Lupstein’s ticket and Benjamin Donovan’s ticket got rather ugly. It’s probably important to mention that I am not at all Greek-affiliated. It is more important to mention that the current SA executives and directors work extremely hard for the students.

The current SA executives and directors number 12 Greek life members and five non-Greek members. This is certainly disproportional, but not “totalitarian.” Greek organizations excel in networking, Greek students are most interested in public administration and Greek students support each other. The rest of us should be so interested in participating in student government and so engaged, but we tend to fall short. The onus to change that is mostly on us.

Donovan’s letter to the editor in Monday’s issue is ridiculous. His issues with the SA have been well-documented, and at times I felt he has valid points, particularly about the Greek “nepotism” related to last year’s board of elections.

However, his notion that the One NIU ticket and previous winning tickets have had “token” members of Alpha Phi Alpha and Panhellenic sororities is egregiously insulting, at best, and borders on sexist. Former student trustee Raquel Chavez, Vice President Reggie Bates and former student trustee Paul Julion all proved they were qualified candidates and exceptional student leaders. Vice President- elect Rachel Jacob and Treasurer-elect Brian Robinson are exceptionally qualified for the positions they are running for. Jacob does not even advertise her Greek affiliation on the One NIU’s informational handouts, and as it happens, beat me to be chosen as the SA director of Academic Affairs, because she was far more qualified.

For Donovan to publicly suggest otherwise and to have that take more column space than his suggestions for improvement, said more about himself than it does the candidates.