Jesse Longoria has the mix of professionalism, personality and experience necessary for a successful
Duke Student Government president, and we believe he is the best candidate for the job.
Longoria has proven himself an able leader this year as the vice president of athletics and campus services. His list of accomplishments is extensive—adding a bus stop near the Blue Zone, improving the equipment at Wilson Recreation Center and Brodie Gym, adding loading and unloading zones behind Kilgo Quad and working with dining services to make changes to to the freshman meal plan among others.
Of the three candidates’ platforms, Longoria’s is both the most plausible and the one that best serves the scope and purpose of DSG. His platform is not revolutionary, but DSG does not need a revolution. Instead DSG needs to find new ways to look at old problems and strive to effectively address issues that have been circulating for years. Safety, course evaluations and the social scene are not new issues, but what DSG needs is a president who can actually make headway on these issues.
Russ Ferguson is extremely ambitious, but we are afraid his ambition cannot be matched by tangible results. Ferguson has a number of project ideas that would be welcome additions to the University, but his platform is merely that—a collection of projects and not a unified vision. His projects were also far too broad in scope and did not seem financially feasible. Again, we lack confidence in his ability to follow through on many of his campaign goals.
Emily Aviki’s platform is entirely too focused on programming events, considering that DSG is primarily a policy-based organization. Although Aviki seems to understand the role of DSG president, her major campaign issues do not reflect that.
Also, Aviki is a DSG outsider. This year has shown us what an outsider can accomplish as DSG president—Pasha Majdi had many strengths, but he had to learn about the DSG policy-making process from scratch, and that may have hampered his effectiveness. In order for a DSG president to get things done within the system, he or she must already have an understanding of how the organization works.
Ferguson has experience on DSG, but he has not had the same leadership positions as Longoria and cannot claim the same list of achievements.
In addition to his experience, Longoria has the perfect demeanor for a president. He is personable, genuine and can relate well to students. Communication between the DSG executive board and students is extremely important if DSG hopes to address student concerns. Longoria seems to have the ability to communicate with students and will accurately reflect students’ opinions in his presidency. At the same time, Longoria also has an air of professionalism, which is necessary for when the DSG president deals with University administrators and other officials.
The Chronicle endorses Jesse Longoria for Duke Student Government president.
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