Let the backstabbing begin!
As winter term winds down, the ASUO elections season is heating up. With one week left for candidates to file to run, two slates have already been formed, and the immature, unprofessional tactics that have come to characterize the ASUO elections process are starting up.
Derek Nix, the campaign manager for the Oregon Action Team, sent an e-mail last week urging members of his slate to take on such tactics as writing letters to the Emerald using other people’s names or writing letters “bashing special interesting groups.”
Nix currently serves as the Senate’s administrative assistant and takes minutes during Senate meetings. He has since apologized for sending the e-mail and said he would discourage those on his slate from employing the tactics he encouraged in the e-mail.
While it is good that Nix recognized his behavior as unprofessional, we have reason to worry about a candidate who would have sent such an e-mail in the first place. The fact that Nix would ever even consider making these suggestions raises serious questions about his abilities to manage a campaign or hold office.
A second e-mail, sent anonymously by someone who had access to the Senate listserv, also surfaced last week, suggesting the Senate should “trim the fat” from the PFC budget and accusing the PFC of spending more money only because of the “racism card.”
If these types of tactics are what we have to look forward to, we have reason to worry about the future of the ASUO. It’s no wonder that so few students actually vote in elections. The types of tactics encouraged in last week’s e-mails are reminiscent of middle school elections and are unacceptable coming from anyone within the ASUO.
We’ve said this before, and it’s worth repeating, that the ASUO does matter. These are the people who control millions and millions of dollars of students’ money, and they should be held to higher standards of behavior than what has been displayed thus far. The leaders in the ASUO are public officials and should act as such.
There are certainly people running for office who truly believe they can help change the University for the better, and there are candidates who do want to look out for students’ best interests. Nevertheless, it’s hard to persuade students to vote in an election where candidates don’t take themselves seriously enough to act like adults and conduct themselves and their campaigns in a more professional manner.