Editorial: ASUCD senate seat

ASUCD Senator Eli Yani, who was elected by the student body about 10 weeks ago, will graduate in June. This means that he will abandon his term 18 weeks early, a plan he chose not to disclose during his campaign.

With his ample knowledge of the ASUCD budget, 12 weeks of Yani is better than a full term of others. But, regardless of the consequences, Yani should not have been so secretive about these plans during his campaign.

In his defense, Yani claims that he never lied about his plans to leave early and that, when asked, he was open and honest.

But, few people knew to ask. Who thinks that, “Are you planning on abandoning your job?” is a necessary question?

If Yani truly believed that what he’s doing is okay, he would have been up front from the beginning. He was open about his light-hearted plans to relocate waffle makers and expose blood drives as a vampire-led scam, but not about the one serious aspect of his candidacy – being unable to serve for 30 weeks.

As a senator, Yani brought a unique knowledge of the ASUCD budget, having served as the association’s controller for a year. Despite his lack of a legitimate platform, The California Aggie Editorial Board endorsed Yani as its No. 1 candidate prior to the election. This would not have been the case had we known that Yani intended to serve just 40 percent of his term.

Whether he believes it or not, Yani deceived the student body that took the time to vote for him, and that is simply unacceptable.

Luckily for his supporters, Yani will be replaced by Ryan Meyerhoff – the candidate who brings a similar centrist perspective.

Though Meyerhoff has been criticized within the association for abandoning a post of his own – he stepped down as Elections Committee Chair to pursue a seat as a senator – these two situations are apples and oranges.

Yani knew he was going to step down, didn’t tell anybody except those who asked and is leaving the association altogether. Meyerhoff left his post and trained his replacement in order to pursue a position where he could make a larger impact. This type of decision is considered a faux pas within ASUCD, but how is it different than a CFO being promoted to CEO or a governor running for president?

The Aggie Editorial Board endorsed Meyerhoff No. 2 for a reason – we believe that he’ll do a great job at the senate table and we have no qualms about him leaving one position within ASUCD to pursue another.

While Yani shouldn’t have run for senate if he knew he was unable to serve for 30 weeks, going from him to Meyerhoff is unlikely to affect the senate table very much, if at all.