John Kerry’s Price Center rally was a perfect microcosm of the greater political climate at UCSD — but it had nothing to do with Kerry himself.
The three “”establishment”” A.S. presidential candidates spoke before Kerry, each with a speech that showed their true colors and briefly highlighted their campaign platforms. Whether anyone in the audience actually cared about what they had to say is debatable, however.
Unity presidential candidate Jeremy Cogan began with a prepared speech, reading straight from his notes. His message was measured and reasonable. His slate wants to “”get things done,”” and “”unify”” the campus. Unity is comprised of people from every background on campus, and is truly an all-inclusive group of candidates.
Cogan’s speech, which was met with polite applause, was followed by Students First! presidential candidate Harish Nandagopal, whose fiery speech proclaimed what many already knew: Students First! is an unabashedly liberal slate. Nandagopal proudly declared that everyone on his slate was “”progressive,”” with “”no one on the California Review”” running under the Students First! name. His supporters in the audience ate it up, but the average student was either turned off or simply confused by the rant.
Following Nandagopal was Jenn Pae, an independent candidate and the current vice president internal. Unlike the other candidates she dressed up for the occasion, appearing professional and open. Her speech, like Nandagopal’s, was delivered without a script. Like her campaign, its sentiments seemed to focus on her independence from the typical A.S. political machines.
As for the slates themselves and their electoral prospects, Students First! is the likely winner in almost every contested race.
Although Cogan’s Unity also deserves considerable credit for putting together a nearly-full slate, Nandagopal’s Students First! is noteworthy in its broader-than-usual candidate pool and an electorally strong candidate roster that compensates for the slate’s weaknesses in other areas.
For example, Nandagopal is not in a fraternity. On the surface, this would seem to be a significant obstacle to overcome. The last three presidential candidates to win the popular vote — Kevin Shawn Hsu, Jenn Brown, and Jeff Dodge — were all Greeks. Hsu and Dodge were members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Brown was in the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. Their slates also consisted of candidates from the Greek system, like former Revelle senior senator Amy Uyeshima from Kappa Alpha Theta.
To compensate, this year’s Students First! features Kevin Hanson — not just a Greek, but also the president of the Inter-Fraternity Council — running for vice president finance. His fraternity brother Ryan Potts, who lists as experience his stint as “Assistant Treasurer for the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity” and his participation in a “street jam basketball tournament” among other things, is running alongside him on Students First! for commissioner of athletic relations. As the first slate to run a commissioner of athletics candidate against an independent — in this case, Triton Tide director Bryce Warwick — Students First! is taking a gamble and breaking tradition. Since the position’s inception two years ago, the director of Triton Tide has risen without opposition to become commissioner of athletics. It is a position hotly targeted for becoming appointed instead of elected, with the usual justifications of “we shouldn’t politicize athletics” and “experience is what counts.”
The slate’s candidates represent all the usual Students First!-allied organizations — Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APSA), Black Student Union (BSU) — as well as some new ones.
In years past, Students First! has not been nearly as strong. The 2003 elections featured a slate that eked out only narrow victories: Only four of the seven Students First! candidates running with opposition won their respective races. The margins of victory were underwhelming, as well. Hsu beat his nearest opponent by only 64 votes out of over 2,000 cast, and Eleanor Roosevelt College Junior Senator candidate James Liu of Students First! finished a mere three votes ahead of his opponent. In 2002, the slate was stronger. But although they swept every major position except commissioner of programming, their margin of victory was often smaller than the number of votes received by one of the many third party candidates that ran that year. The vice president internal and vice president finance candidates each won his election with especially slim margins. In head-to-head match-ups with the rival Action slate, Students First! lost almost as many positions as it won. Six senate seats and the commissioner of programming were surrendered to its Action opponents.
Incidentally, this year’s Unity slate bears more than a passing resemblance to the Action slate of 2002. The candidates are, for the most part, “in-house” A.S. or college council officials. Their platform consists of a “get it done” mentality, as opposed to Students First!’s ambiguous pledge to “stand for something.” Similarly, Action had specific goals in mind, like getting meal points accepted at the Grove Caffe and initiating new A.S. enterprises. The incumbent Unity candidates have even implemented some of Action’s goals. Meal points are now accepted at the Grove, and Cogan is starting up new A.S. enterprises like the “ropes course” and an online book exchange.
While Students First! also has candidates with experience — a surprising number coming straight out of the current A.S. departments — it draws its support primarily from outside student organizations. In some cases, this results in candidates with dubious qualifications — such as the aforementioned Potts running for the athletics position — but in others, it has the potential to bring fresh faces to the council that may actually have better relationships with their constituents than with preexisting A.S. officers.
As for this year’s independent candidates, they are much more impressive than the usual fare. Presidential candidate Steve York ran last year for vice president internal. He’s more knowledgeable about campus politics and issues than voters might assume from his casual demeanor and famous “cigarettes, blow-pops and condoms” campaign.
Pae herself was a former Unity candidate for vice president internal last year. Her campaign is more viable than most independents, who usually have little to no active supporters and no visible campaign. Pae has been out on Library Walk since May 29 with her blue T-shirts and buttons.
Independent Commissioner of Programming candidate Spencer Pforsich is another rarity. He has worked in the current programmer’s office as Nooner Coordinator — a position once held by last year’s Commissioner of Programming Gabe Grossman. Although he still faces an uphill battle in a one-on-one contest with three-time candidate and current A.S. festivals coordinator Rishi Shah, who won the position last year, Pforisch has the potential for an upset.
Despite their potential, one-on-one face-offs with Students First! candidates are unlikely to result in victory. Students First! is nearly invincible, if Nandagopal’s gamble with athletics and the Greeks pays off and their support is combined with that of the Students First!-allied SAAC organizations.
Furthermore, in the inevitable runoff election for the presidency, Students First! has an undeniable advantage. Unity’s support, like Action’s, will come from students who recognize their candidates’ experience and ability. Students First!’s will draw its support from its allied organizations: SAAC, liberal organizations, and now possibly athletes and Greeks. Phone banking and mass e-mails sent through club listservs the night before the runoff will ensure Students First!’s supporters will turn out. Unity does not have the phone lists and e-mail addresses of the students it will win over, but Students First!’s eventual supporters will receive literature every day of the election.
Although the potential is there, independents and Unity candidates will have a difficult time unseating this year’s Students First! slate. Unless voter turnout increases threefold, Nandagopal will become our next A.S. president and Students First! will control most of the executive positions and half of the senate.
[Ed. note: Bryce Warwick is a senior staff writer for the Guardian.]
