Bright Ntambara is a junior political science and global studies major.
Going forward The Optimist should refrain from the business of endorsing candidates for SA’s executive positions.
In light of recent endorsement by ACU’s The Optimist of Danny Burke for Student Association president, pertaining to the Student Association’s elections, I am writing to express disappointment and frustration. While it is important for the paper to scrutinize and bring to light the flaws of each candidate, it should do so with neutrality and fairness. It is uncalled for, for The Optimist to endorse one student over another. I am more interested in the paper’s analysis of every candidate than its endorsement.
Being the only paper published on campus, and the most widely read news medium of what happens on campus for ACU community, The Optimist, automatically gives an unprecedented advantage to a candidate it endorses over his/her rival. And this couldn’t be farther from what I need the paper to do as a student. Until there is more than one newspaper on ACU’s campus, I suggest that The Optimist refrain from siding with any candidate running for SA presidency.
To put things in context, endorsing one candidate means that The Optimist is fully behind one candidate, giving him an unfair advantage. By endorsing a candidate, The Optimist is not only unnecessarily taking part in the campaigning, but also turning its back on the community it seeks to serve. For a paper that is sponsored by the school, and one that seeks to serve the entire student body and ACU community, this is unfair and indeed unnecessary. Until there is more than one newspaper on ACU’s campus, I suggest that The Optimist refrain from siding with any candidate running for SA presidency.
If the Optimist really needs to get involved in the Students Association’s elections (I highly recommend it does), it should do so with impartiality regardless of the flaws of the candidates. It should level the playing field and, most importantly, do a thorough analysis of all candidates and leave the students to decide whom to vote for based on that analysis.
That being said, Danny or Abe, the SA, with its insanely huge budget and significantly more power than other student organizations, has almost become irrelevant to the wider student body. It is a shame that out of more than 4000 students not a single one of them ran for SA’s treasury position.
If the SA wants to attract more interest from students, it absolutely needs to change the way it conducts business.