Wednesday, Feb. 27, saw my resignation from the Student Union Elections Commission. I asked Senate Chair Kirsten Lundeen for permission to address the reasons at Monday’s Senate meeting. That request having been denied, I bring my message, direct and unfiltered, via The Daily Free Press, to the Boston University community.
SUEC, a special body of the Student Union responsible for promoting and administering student government elections, by and large decided two weeks before Spring Break that it could not devote the required time and energy to create sound rules and regulations to govern this year’s elections (SUEC spends a paltry two hours per week on Union business, while senators and Executive Board members dedicate infinitely more time.). A motion to devote one weekend day to plug some of the document’s holes was soundly defeated. The Commission concluded that the existing rules and regulations could be analyzed and changed more fully during the 2002-03 academic year. As a result, this year’s elections will be overseen by roughly the same vague, infinitely manipulatable regulations as in past years. My resignation came only after the Commission would not attempt to forge a solid document capable of effectively governing elections.
Our bylaws suffered a similar fate.
In both cases, the Commission chose to speed up analysis and reformation in the interest of progress. The Commission needs to understand that progress is not simply rubber-stamping a document in the interest of time; progress is creating a document that effectively addresses the concerns and challenges presented to the Elections Commission by the student body, administration, the Union and its own members.
In addition, the Student Union Elections Commission is in grave danger of damaging the credibility and reputation of the Student Union that Presidents Michael Moffo and Zachary Coseglia, along with dozens of dedicated Union members, have struggled to build over the last six months. Ineffective and ill-prepared Commission leadership has resulted in unclear communication within SUEC and embarrassing communication with University offices, which has been commented on by advisers and derided by commissioners. Each time a University office receives untimely communication grossly filled with grammatical and spelling errors, the Union looks as if it were run by ignorant buffoons, not students at a $35,000 per annum world-renowned university. Each time a SUEC meeting starts 30 minutes late, or the agenda and meeting minutes are not distributed to commissioners, SUEC loses respect both internally and externally. Although SUEC members are students, our peers and advisers still expect a minimum level of professionalism.
The Elections Commission has been plagued with resignations in the last year. This is due to an inefficient and embarrassing Commission that fails to dedicate time to the tasks at hand and cannot effectively make elections appeal to students. I call on President Coseglia and the Union to evaluate SUEC leadership and work toward creating an environment in which effectual commissioners will stay for the duration of their undergraduate careers.
Strong elections are an important first step to legitimizing successive Unions, and that can only result from a strong Elections Commission.
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