By: Newswire Staff

In stark contrast to last year’s Student Government Association (SGA) executive election in which only one ticket ran for office, this year’s student voters will have four options to choose from when voting begins Oct. 26 at 8 a.m.

The tickets running are “The A Team” consisting of Alex Hale, Aimee Boivin and Adam Dill; “JJM” consisting of Johnny Srsich, Jacob Jansen and McKenzie Lauver; “SSM” made up of Samuel Buettner, Scott Jones and Meredith Hayden; and “ZRE” comprised by Zeina Farhat, Ryan Fitzgerald and Eduardo Patron.

The Newswire staff met with all four tickets and has thoroughly reviewed the candidates’ qualifications and plans. Based on what we learned during the interviews as well as the tickets’ performances at the debate that was held Oct. 25, the editorial staff of the Newswire has decided to officially endorse ZRE for the position of SGA Executives.

This decision did not come easily, as it seems the lack of interest for the positions last year sparked a number of great candidates to come forward and run this year, making our task of choosing the best of the bunch nearly impossible. With that being said, the opinions expressed by the Newswire do not reflect the thoughts of any one staff member but are instead the result of an evaluation by five editors based on a predetermined score system.

Each ticket’s evaluation is included in rubric form below, and each ticket was evaluated for professionalism, feasibility, passion and balance.

Professionalism

By and large, ZRE won the professionalism category. The editorial staff was impressed with their appearance as well as the ways in which they conducted themselves and articulated their ideas during both the interviews and the debate. JJM and the A Team were not far behind, our only criticisms being the ways in which some candidates carried themselves. In comparison to the very high bar set by the other three tickets, we found SSM to be lacking in professional appearance as well as demeanor and articulation.

Feasibility

All of the tickets had very extensive platforms with a number of initiatives they plan to attempt to accomplish during their time as SGA executives. ZRE was the only ticket to detail equally as extensively the faculty and administration members whom they had already talked to in order to ensure the feasibility of their ideas. While we liked some ideas on both JJM’s and the A Team’s platforms better, we are more confident that ZRE will be able to execute a larger number of its planned initiatives. SSM brought up some great ideas as well, but could not offer specific plans to make them reality. That being said, we would like to encourage the three tickets that are not elected to continue to push for their proposals and beliefs as we feel they merit a great deal of respect and attention.

Passion

After the interviews and the debate were complete, it was clear that all of the candidates running care about the Xavier community and wish to see it flourish. We found that the A Team as well as JJM exhibited the most obvious passion when talking about their issues. In order for student government to function properly, passionate individuals are needed at every level. These students clearly saw issues that needed correcting and stepped up to do something about it. While ZRE was the most professional of the bunch, this professionalism added an almost mechanical feeling to their performances in the interview and the debate. Although we believe the passion is present for ZRE, we had hoped to see it a bit more clearly displayed. Again, SSM brought up great ideas, and we especially appreciated their pushes for greater accessibility as well as no additional fee for intramural sports, but all of their enthusiasm seemed to come disproportionately from one member of the ticket.

Balance

Balance among the members of the tickets is an extremely important qualification for serving in the roles of the SGA executives. Although no ticket exhibited perfect balance among members, ZRE’s members seemed the most capable. Where the A Team and JJM seemed to be led by two members of each ticket, questions thrown at ZRE were answered more equally among all three members. Questions directed at SSM were mainly answered by one member of the ticket, especially during the debate. The student body should be confident in every member of an elected ticket, and we feel that ZRE best fits this requirement.

Again, the decision to endorse ZRE was not made easily, and the Newswire encourages all students to vote, no matter who the vote goes to. We consider ourselves lucky to have had such a hard decision to make because it indicates a strong field of candidates. Xavier students will not have to choose the lesser of any evil but will instead be able to vote for the ticket they feel will do the best job in the position.

Despite our endorsement of ZRE, we strongly encourage whichever three tickets are not elected to continue to push for change on this campus. Although we believe ZRE is the best candidate we fully acknowledge the ability of the other tickets to perform in the office of SGA executives.