Student Association Election Candidate Endorsement

With elections coming up this week for both the top Student Association executives and the student trustee, the Northern Star editorial board sat down for interviews with (almost) all the candidates to formulate the paper’s endorsements. What follows, after careful consideration, are our picks, including the pros and cons of each candidate. For the two major races, we have ranked the candidates based on their potential effectiveness in office.

SA President

1. Ken Getty

Getty has a passion for politics and people, reason enough that he should continue as Student Association president.

A junior political science and corporate communication major, he has had a successful run as the SA’s top dog this year, cleaning a house left filthy by former leaders. It’s hard to miss the guy in that bright firefighter’s jacket or at the countless NIU events he attends each week.

The fact that Getty is running independent of a ticket means that he wants to do a good job, not make friends. He realizes the importance of fostering a decent relationship with newly chosen provost J. Ivan Legg, he’ll be an influential voice in April’s mayoral election, and he’ll make sure we see results from Annie Glidden Task Force meetings.

Based on his experience, Getty should continue with the job he’s started. Gone are the days of circus clowns running the SA. As president, Getty has visibly proven that he wants to represent students and make the transition for future SA administrations much smoother.

The guy cares about student politics, and for once, that’s refreshing.

2.Troy Caldwell

Caldwell has watched two very different Student Association presidents take office. One crashed and burned in the fire of impeachment, removal from office and questionable ethics. The other cleaned up the mess and led the SA on a cleaner path.

Caldwell takes both experiences to the plate, but shows strong character in leaving certain practices behind.

As a two-year SA treasurer, he’s simplified the club funding process, and more student groups received money, a trend he wants to continue.

He also has contacts with the city of DeKalb and favors more state funds over more student fees.

But Caldwell’s bombs lie in the beginning of his campaign and his office ideals. His questionable method of soliciting signatures made for a nasty start to the race. And while Caldwell wants to diversify and train SA staff, why hasn’t that been a goal all along?

These blemishes cloud his otherwise-bright campaign for SA president.

3. Shawn McGady

McGady is ready and willing to be Student Association president & but not that ready.

He’s a student senator, rush chairman for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and a Big Brother. He wants to make a difference in the SA, and he’s on his way. One of the most pressing issues he sees is that of campus safety & he reports hearing of six people being assaulted in the past year, and he wants that to change. He also wants the SA to become a body that students know about and trust to watch over them.

He’s humble and honest & unmarred by politics. But McGady needs to grow some more before he becomes SA president. He doesn’t know much about DeKalb or the organizations and people involved, and his experience is minimal in accordance with NIU government.

McGady said he’d be happy in any executive position in the SA. That’s the best place for him at this point. He has the potential, but is lacking in experience

4. Will Reilly

In choosing a candidate to best represent the students, sometimes the rhetoric can sound smooth and knowledgeable. Will Reilly can match conversational skills with any of those running for office, but in between great concepts like executive branch diversity and public trust in the SA are some major missteps.

In talking about DeKalb-NIU relations, Reilly knew the importance of mayoral contacts, but the name of the current mayor was a problem. Constant references to “Betty Cisneros” were both laughable and painful.

Maybe those were just slips in otherwise basic, admirable goals. But for such important matters, the name of Bessie Chronopoulos should both be memorable and important. Similar specifics errors only would hurt the SA presidency.

Student Trustee

1. Brad Kuhn

The Star endorses Kuhn for student trustee based on the expertise, organization and seriousness he would bring to the position. His recommendation for a Board of Trustees Web site, which would document BOT activities, would take huge strides to bridge the sizable gap between students and the NIU

hierarchy. Furthermore, his knowledge on the various aspects of the BOT would prove invaluable in the proper representation of essential student concerns.

Kuhn’s commitment to raising student fees no higher than 3 percent per year would be a much-needed relief to students’ monetary concerns. Kuhn also would bring enthusiasm and independence to the job. Although he is running on a ticket, he expressed that he was in no way a “yes man,” and his ideas and vision for the position he seeks serve as confirmation.

2. Alex Alaniz

Alaniz knows what he wants if he were to be elected student trustee.

He wants student fees to remain at a reasonable level, roads around the residence halls to be improved and safety to be one of the most important issues addressed by the Student Association. He believes SA staff members need to be held accountable for their actions because their first responsibility is the student body.

His work with Sigma Lambda Beta has contributed to his personable nature & something every good politician needs. He realizes the importance of holding office hours as trustee, just as he has as SA vice president this year.

But what may seem like a passion for the position comes off more as the reasonable next step for Alaniz. Although his SA Supreme Court experience is invaluable, he’s unprepared for the tremendous duties a trustee holds.

As vice president, Alaniz has approved many fruitless organizations, showing more of a go-with-the-flow nature than that of an inquisitive student trustee. His diverse nature would allow him to get along with whoever is elected as SA president, but he falls short of being an impressive candidate to represent students on the Board of Trustees.

3. Andrew Anderson

If one name hangs over the entire DeKalb political landscape, it’s Andrew Anderson’s. With his tainted past as an ousted SA president and this semester’s quick dip into the 2001 DeKalb mayoral pool, his name often stirs more groans than issues.

But Anderson, who declined to participate in an endorsement interview, appeals to the joke voter in us all. He likes to kid and drink and play political games. This time, the urge to laugh should be ignored.

Although he possesses an immense knowledge of the political landscape, Anderson plays around when he should concentrate on the numerous issues facing the Board of Trustees.

In the end, Anderson’s political language is legendary. But his lack of campaigning this year only goes to show that words only carry politicians so far. We judge, ultimately, on actions, an area in which Anderson fails time and again.