Interest in SGA elections dwindles

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

Middlebury's Student Government Association (SGA) opened voting for Student Senate at noon yesterday after struggling to recruit candidates from the classes of 2006 and 2007. With no competitive junior or senior races, the more crowded field of first-years and sophomores has captured public attention with witty campaign tactics and ideas for change.

According to Director of Membership Daniel Inadomi '07, the SGA made an effort to recruit candidates at the Sept. 27 meeting. "Those who attended were mostly sophomores and freshmen," he said. "We had very few people show an interest in running for senior and junior senate seats."

Despite an apparent lack of interest in campaigning among older students, however, those candidates who are running agree that SGA President Eli Berman '07.5 and other election organizers have made the process easy. Said first-year senate candidate Sean Denny, "At first it seemed a little disorganized, but after the meeting on Tuesday it was very smooth. They've sent us all the information that we need."

For their part, many Senate candidates have made the rounds of residence halls shaking hands and putting up campaign signs. "I have been talking to people personally hoping to start a dialogue," said Ryan Tauriainen '08, one of two candidates for Wonnacott Commons' Senate seat.

In his quest for votes, first-year candidate Garrett Saito distributed dozens of condoms with the message, "It's Safe to vote for Garrett Saito, Freshman Class Senator" attached, and sophomore candidate Max Nardini reported posting signs in several buildings likening himself to a robot pirate. "Alas," lamented Nardini, "I am a fraud. I could never be that cool."

Despite their diverse tactics aimed at winning votes, many of the 19 candidates share a common campaign theme: establishing a clear policy regarding new Middlebury liquor inspector Michael Davidson's re-interpretation of state law regarding alcohol at parties on campus. Said Nardini of Davidson's requirement that social house parties limit entrance to those students whose names appear on a guest list, "Not only do we harm the social atmosphere in general, but we deprive the new freshmen of the inclusive first experiences of open social gatherings that we were able to have."

Fellow sophomore candidate Nick Monier plans to suggest posting party invitations online and providing a means to RSVP for those who want to get on the guest list. "That way, everyone who wants to go can just send an e-mail and get on the list," he said.

Other campaign ideas vary widely. Ilhan Kim, running unopposed for a junior senate seat, proposed increasing the number of social venues available to students by "maximizing the use of social spaces available to us."

Hoping to serve Wonnacott, Tauriainen said he would try to secure a laundry room within Painter Hall, "as Wonnacott is the only Commons sans laundry facilities." Saito hopes to serve the student body by coaxing the College into re-establishing its relationship with a bus company that until recently picked up students and connected them to airline flights to New York and Boston.

In response to their competitors' proposals, some candidates have chosen to run instead on the promise to respond to student concerns as they arise. Said Denny, "It's more about the class' ideas than mine."

In a nod to a problem that plagues many student governments -- that it is not always possible to implement an idea discussed during the campaign - Alpheus Chan '08, also in the running for Wonnacott's senate seat, said, "I will focus on things that I could personally control, such as honesty, trustworthiness and accessibility."

Voting, which can be accessed both online and at laptop computers that the SGA will make available in at least one dining hall, will remain open until noon Friday.