Catching Up with the SGA Presidential Candidates

Author: Dan Phillips

Feinberg Focuses on Election

Not even a leg injury "worse than Bo Jackson's" kept Andrew Feinberg '04 from an intense week of campaigning for the office of Student Government Association (SGA) President. Despite three torn ligaments, Feinberg is staying on campus until the conclusion of elections at the end of this week, at which point he will return home for emergency surgery and remain there for the duration of semester. "The pain gets worse every day," he added, reclined on his dorm room bed with crutches close at hand, "but I've had wonderful support from the people who want to help me out."
Feinberg, who has previously been involved with the Community Council, admitted he got off to a late start with campaigning due to his rugby injury. He showed no signs of letting up on his efforts, however, as he proceeded to attend an SGA meeting the following Sunday night. He had a few bed sheet-sized banners hung on Monday, he said, and had flyers up and out all last week, stating that he will continue with his campaign in the days leading up to the election on Thursday.
"It's been tough to go door to door," he said, as he did last Friday in Gifford and Battell, noting that it takes him nearly three times as long to get the job done on crutches.
"Name and face recognition are so important," Feinberg explained. "It's about sharing your ideas and letting them know you want to make a positive difference." He added, "Everybody had such wonderful questions."
Feinberg handed out flyers during brunch at Ross last Sunday and went door to door in Allen and Coffrin later that evening. During this process he noted that he could not be "fake." "The key is not my platform. They do not care as much about that as seeing you go door to door," he said. Feinberg was met with receptive faces in every room he visited as he asked first-years for a moment of their time. Most had read his platform and flyers and liked what he had to say. Feinberg vowed to push "realistic change for realistic problems through incremental change," without promising "grandiose ideas."
He discussed academic reform and student life on campus, the primary issues of his platform. "It's poor form for the administration to tell you how to run your education," he claimed. Feinberg informed inquisitive first-years of his great relationship with the administration and how he thinks he can do the best job because of his realistic approach. "It's a great feeling when you know you've got people who are going to support you."
Feinberg also held a hall meeting on the third floor of Milliken on Monday night with student co-chair of Community Council candidate Erin Sullivan '04.5 and handed out flyers at Ross during lunch on Tuesday.


McElroy Presses Forward Confidently

Megan McElroy '04 has kept busy this past week campaigning for President of the Student Government Association (SGA).
She posted flyers and began going around to campus dorm rooms as early as last week. McElroy also met with organizations such as the Middlebury Mountain Club and contacted all of the social houses in efforts to reiterate her platform goal of "bridging the gap between students and the SGA." She said, "Basically, everyone I've talked to didn't even know what the SGA does."
McElroy attended the Town Meeting on Monday night, where she noted that President McCardell supported three particular ideas of her platform concerning student life: an on-campus bar if enough student support is gained, a potential trial period for running buses to off-campus parties and an over-18 drinking area on campus. People have misinterpreted the new drinking age policy, McElroy said. "It's not going to happen next year, but we have to get the ball rolling." She added that McCardell and a few Vermont state legislators were in support of the proposal.
McElroy has been "really encouraged" by the reception she received from students as well as the administration about her ideas, she said.
Following the Town Meeting, McElroy proceeded to go door to door in Ross and continued meeting with students and posting flyers in dorms such as Gifford, Coffrin, Painter and Starr on Tuesday afternoon. She completed her campaigning schedule Tuesday night by pitching her platform and answering question at meetings with Middlebury College Activities Board, the International Students Organization and various social houses.
"I think I really have fresh ideas," stated McElroy, alluding to her desire to change the current SGA policy and the need for more discussion about the commons system.
She claimed that her "experience is important," as it provides her with the advantage of being previously involved in the framework of student governance. McElroy feels her position as current chief of staff to the SGA President also represents the effort she has proudly put into the student government in the past three years: "you can't be the captain if you haven't played on the team," she asserted.
"A lot of students know what I have been doing," said McElroy, "but they are misinformed and wrongly think that my platform is unrealistic." She responds, calling her ideas "definitely feasible."


Reform Candidate Rodriguez Speaks Out

Sam Rodriguez '04 was hard at work this past week running "a very different campaign" for the president of the Student Government Association (SGA). He has engineered a campaign with humorous flyers and two forty-foot banners cascading down the front faÁade of Hepburn Hall. Rodriguez hung the banners in response to the presence of one his opponent's banners on the same dorm.
Rodriguez has campaigned on a more personal level by speaking to "an overwhelming number of students" during visits to first-year dorms. He visited Battell, Allen and Stewart and made it a point to have a consistent presence in McCullough every day.
On Tuesday, Rodriguez began circulating new flyers that emphasized more comprehensively the "laundry list" of ideas he attempted to avoid in his first round of campaign posters. He planned on going door to door in Pearsons, Ross, Coffrin and Le Chateau to further address the student body he hopes to govern next year. After attending the International Student Organization (ISO) meeting Tuesday night, he hopes to have flyers up in Starr Library, Monroe and Gifford.
A lot of people felt that Rodriguez's decision to disregard alcohol policy in his platform made it a "fresh campaign," he said. "I feel it is best to separate myself from my opponents, and I feel that I have done that successfully." Rodriguez claimed his purpose was to identify changes that have not yet occurred and to avoid long-term issues in the SGA. Instead, Rodriguez would rather focus upon "short-term goals that can be addressed," such as the possible creation of a health food dining hall, the installation of network printers in every dorm and the reworking of the SGA to make it more available to students.
Concerned about the distance between the student body and the SGA, Rodriguez reserved a table outside the entrance to Proctor dining hall last night and made himself available to students in much the same way he feels the SGA should be accessible to the student body. Rodriguez fielded questions about his platform and handed out flyers for students to read while eating or to take away. As part of his platform, Rodriguez feels that members of the SGA or class senators should be available outside Ross and Proctor dining halls once a week or every day so students can learn about current issues and ask questions of the College's governing body.
The cornerstone of his campaign remains 'making changes that need to be made without raising the public's expectations.' Thus far, he has received a "very warm reception," he said.