RESPONSIBILITIES
Acts as the student body’s official representative and chief executive officer of the A.S. Council
SALARY ‘amp; BENEFITS
$10,000 per year
A-spot parking upgrade
WHY WE ENDORSE HIM Structural know-how will inform his big ideas for internal change.
The most important question on the A.S. ballot has no easy answer.
Though three eager candidates have given this year’s race to the A.S. presidency a much-needed jolt of competition ‘mdash; after current Student Voice! President Donna Bean ran unopposed last spring ‘mdash; the 2009-10 hopefuls are nothing to shout about.
SV! puppet Erin Brodwin, the current associate vice president of local affairs, is the surest public speaker of the bunch. At the midday presidential debate last week in Price Center, she succinctly laid down what appeared to be a well-conceived plan to stand firm against the administration on concerns like protecting free speech, the Literature Building cancer cluster and the Sun God Festival’s welfare, meanwhile promising to iron out the council’s tendency to bicker.
But off the podium, Brodwin is guarded ‘mdash; difficult to get a hold of and rattling off the same intangible talking points in conversation. Despite her self-pledged devotion to fighting amplified sound zones in UCSD’s current speech policy, she and the other two student representatives appointed to the committee currently redrafting the policy have taken no steps to contact the administrators with ultimate control over each zone. She also doesn’t think A.S. enterprises like the Grove Caffe should surpass self-sustainability to bring in a profit, basically defying the entire purpose of an enterprise.
On the other hand, Adam Tietelbaum ‘mdash; former Alpha Epsilon Phi president and frontman to the peppy Clean Slate ‘mdash; is approachable, clear-headed and ridiculously nice. However, he’s unaware of the bureaucratic mess he’ll be taking on, instead focusing on all the fun-and-games student-life ideas like an A.S. screen name and Facebook account that running mate Stephanie Usry already has a more ambitious grasp on ‘mdash; and could probably handle with her left pinky.
Though he cites challenging the alcohol policy as an important step to revamp the Sun God Festival, he hasn’t demonstrated an essential understanding of how any of these policies could be challenged, nor outlined the ins and outs of the system ‘mdash; necessary steps in negotiating with higher-ups. Tietelbaum lacks an effective president’s crucial familiarity with what it would take to bend university policy ‘mdash; something he claims could be remedied by holding a grown-up conversation with administrators. If that was a viable solution, Bear Gardens would be Beer Gardens and there’d be 50 at the Sun God Festival alone.
That isn’t to say Utsav Gupta, running independently after failing to receive SV! support, won’t likewise be trampled by the money-minded suits up top. He’s soft-spoken and inoffensive ‘mdash; a general people-pleaser.
But after three years of A.S. involvement, he can tell you exactly how to structure a task force that has some hopes of traversing the red tape. His initial intentions to run on the cursed SV! slate were allegedly in hopes of saving it from its ‘darker side,’ restoring the bigger-pi
cture principles of 2006-07 president Harry Khanna (whom Gupta essentially worships) with the invaluable guiding light of institutional memory.
‘We’ve become this kind of legislative bureaucracy that passes policies that don’t affect anybody but ourselves,’ he said.
While Brodwin’s only goal is to redecorate the ship (and Tietelbaum would spend two quarters just trying to find the helm), Gupta is determined to turn it around and start again. He’s overflowing with all the right ideas ‘mdash; a weekly YouTube address, a Bear Garden at the Sun God Festival, a plan to rally packs of passionate students to pressure administrators ‘mdash; even though he’s probably way too busy (and nice) to see them all through.
But there’s something to be said for optimism. Sure, as current AVP of student organizations, he hardly speaks at meetings and shows absolutely no history of facilitating the flow of communication he now advocates. And his dream for a UCSD football team is almost as farfetched as it is nauseatingly expensive.
Thing is, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.