THE SPECTRUM | ERIK JONASSON II
Pictured from left to right, Chase Grindberg, Marisa Pacella, Dallas Patton and Carter Powley. The debate played out a lot like this photo.
Look I know almost none of you went to the debates for student body president and vice president.
Although it is something you should care about, obviously, it doesn’t get the masses out. I sat through this year’s debate, although Twitter was alive with pre-debate drama and I felt inclined to listen to the voice of the outsider, Carter Powley and Dallas Patton. I was ultimately let down.
The two presidential candidates are Chase Grindberg with vice presidential candidate Marisa Pacella. The other candidates are Powley as president and Patton as his vice president.
Let’s be clear, a platform of being an outsider doesn’t qualify you to be student government president. That doesn’t excuse current President Mason Wenzel’s tweet that called out presidential candidate Powley and his vice president candidate Patton.
Wenzel’s tweet in question was, “I’m going to be the one to say it, constantly promoting that you are donating to charity is a tacky move…”
Do not sugarcoat this tweet, Wenzel’s tweet was wildly unprofessional. It is something that no professional should ever stoop to. If Obama can keep his voice shut over Trump’s antics, then so can we. We don’t need immature tweets, especially when the author of the tweets represents our whole school.
Luckily though, the debate is an eye-opener. Powley and Patton seemed unprepared. These people want to be in charge of my paper’s budget? They stated that he wants to cut frivolous spending, but could they define that?
Powley wants to breed a better student outreach. How? While I give credit where credit is due, Patton is a great “people person.” He showed a sense of professionalism in his language, minus wearing jeans when his counterparts wore full suits.
It isn’t even the jeans though, it is more than that. Showing up to a debate underdressed displays to me that you don’t care about this. I care about the budget. I care about clubs that breed education, like The Spectrum. Just cutting money for the sake of cutting money is insane and only appeals to people who don’t care to understand the allocation of funds.
Where the Grindberg and Pacella pointed to bike share as being the biggest waste for students, noting upkeep and maintenance as being a big concern, Patton and Powley couldn’t point out a single example. Grindberg and Pacella are the obvious professional choice. They have a step-by-step plan and the needed experience to actually try to do that.
Lambasting people for being elitist or calling out politicians for being politicians is not a position, it just means that you have no experience and have nothing else to offer. With that being said, I hope that professionalism and a sense of pride in your position is something held by the next president and vice president.