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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Editorial: Welcome and good luck

The Aggie Editorial Board would like to congratulate and welcome the newly elected Fall 2012 ASUCD senators: Armando Figueroa and Alyson Sagala of the SMART slate, Tal Topf and Felicia Ong of the NOW slate, as well as independents Liam Burke and Maxwell Kappes.
Overall, we were impressed by this year’s candidates and campaigns. We applaud all who ran and appreciate their commitment to encouraging students to vote. At 22 percent, voter turnout was the second highest it’s been for a fall election in the last 10 years. While it’s still pretty pathetic, we are impressed by the candidates’ ability to garner votes.
We’d also like to extend our welcome by offering some advice that we’ve learned from the past.

1. Go to every senate meeting. We understand that the meetings can be long and grueling. But as an elected senator, going to meetings is a required part of your job. You have the responsibility of being the intermediary for UC Davis students.

2. Get to know campus committees and organizations. Be aware of what occurs in them and how you can help. These committees and organizations are part of the association’s backbone and are vital to students.

3. Hold office hours. Students chose you for a reason, be it your experience, platforms, personality, looks or all of the above. So be proactive and make a point in assisting these students who voted for you. Make it clear when your office hours are and invite students — don’t expect them to come to you.

4. Avoid petty politics. When there’s a room full of senators, there’s bound to be disagreements. We understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions; however, we’d like it if you could be SMART and Independent NOW. Since there’s equal standing – two senators from each slate – we hope to see less polarization on the table and more impartiality.

We can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to UC Davis.

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