‘Vision’ is sole Union slate; debates canceled

The all-freshmen slate pulled out of the 2009 Boston University Student Union elections after the group’s secretarial candidate withdrew because he said he felt a divide between himself and the other three candidates.

Charles Manning said he realized things were not working within the former ‘New Frontier’ slate after a recent ‘incident.’ Manning declined to comment further on the details, but said there was an obvious rift forming.’

‘It’s just that we had a few disagreements,’ Manning, a College of Engineering freshman, said. ‘It was me and one other person. I felt like I couldn’t work with that person.’

Frontier’s presidential candidate, Kathryn Fitzgerald, said she did not foresee a divide between the four Executive Staff members.

‘Obviously, it took us by surprise that he felt there was a rift, and he felt he could no longer work with us,’ Fitzgerald, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said. ‘I was very disappointed by his decision. We were counting on him.’

At Monday night’s General Assembly meeting, Fitzgerald sat in the front row with Caitlin Rose, Frontier’s vice presidential candidate, and Amanda Peterson, Frontier’s treasurer candidate, while Manning sat two rows behind them.’ ‘

After Manning’s departure, the remaining members of the slate also withdrew from the race because they were in it as a team, Rose said.

‘Just because of the way that we worked together as the Executive Staff this current year, we always envisioned ourselves being together,’ Rose, a School of Management freshman, said.

Election rules prevented the slate of Executive Staff members from adding a new candidate to its team after the declaration deadline. The final filing deadline was the third Friday in March.

Each New Frontier member could have run as an independent candidate, but Fitzgerald said none of them wanted to do so because it could have led to divided leadership next semester.

‘Union already has cliques and infighting, and it would only worsen the situation,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘It would be selfish of us to not only bring that to the GA, but have that present in the executive board. It would be ridiculous.’

With the New Frontier out, ‘Vision for BU’ should have a much easier time earning the Union e-board positions. Vision presidential candidate James Sappenfield said it is somewhat unfortunate that he and his slate no longer need to run an aggressive campaign.

‘Admittedly, there is a little bit of disappointment on my part because I did enjoy the thrill of the competition,’ Sappenfield, a CAS and SMG junior, said.’ ‘

Sappenfield said he and the members of his slate will continue their publicity campaign so that students will be familiar with them once they officially take office.

‘Instead of spending time focusing on campaigning, and instead of spending time focusing on promises for next year, we can get a head start on everything that’s happening now,’ Sappenfield said.’ ‘

All former New Frontier slate members, including Manning, said they would return to Union next year. They also said that after these events, they had a ‘neutral’ view toward this election.

Rose said leaving the race was a difficult decision that the slate would have a hard time getting over.

‘We’re not throwing this away lightheartedly,’ Rose said. ‘We never took it lightly and we’re not backing down or quitting. We really feel a heavy heart with this decision. We weren’t playing a game.’

The Student Elections Commission will no longer be hosting the scheduled vice presidential and presidential debates, according to SEC Vice Chairperson Rachel Katz.

Former Union President Brooke Feldman was the last Union head to win an uncontested race. She was victorious in 2006, winning 2,170 votes.