[1749] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] Online Voting for UAP/VP Closes Tonight at
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jessica H Lowell)
Tue Mar 14 19:03:43 2006
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 19:03:24 -0500
From: Jessica H Lowell <jessiehl@mit.edu>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <44170A3E.1090604@mit.edu>
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
I originally sent this email 40 minutes ago, and it still hasn't shown up, so
I'm going to send it again. If it turns out that it was just very delayed the
first time, my apologies.
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Well, if Andrew is going to pitch his campaign here, then so am I. :)
As he says, if you haven't voted, you should to so, at http://vote.mit.edu
before midnight tonight, or cast a paper ballot tomorrow before 5.
I would like to encourage you to vote for myself and Steve Kelch for
UAP/VP. I
have a long history of advocating for students, starting out as a senator from
East Campus when I was a sophomore and serving you as UAVP this past year. I
used to talk to Steve about campus issues and bounce ideas off him when he was
a frosh, and over this past year he has served the students as a senator from
the fraternities.
Reform, of course, is a good thing, and most governments, student or
otherwise,
could use plenty of it. I should know; I was on last year's committee that
pushed through election reform to more fairly represent students in the
Senate.
But reform is all for naught if the UA is not doing things that people care
about. This is where I think our ticket really shines. We have both
demonstrated our commitment to making the UA work for students.
As a senator, I responded to students being thrown out of Simmons before their
disciplinary hearing by bringing a resolution to the Senate and getting a
dialogue going with the people responsible to ensure that the process is more
streamlined and such a thing won't happen again. I brought a bill to
get Steer
Roast '05 funding when one of their usual sources backed out on them.
As VP, I
have maintained this commitment to issues. When I found out that there was a
plan to raise roof fines to up to $500 for a first offense (and PNG alums on
their second offense), I proposed an alternate plan, which was ultimately
adopted in slightly modifed form, to replace the fines with community service
and treat alums fairly. When several friends tipped me off with rumors of
mandatory meal plans for all of campus, I talked with the relevant
adminstrators and made sure that they stated publically that there
wouldn't be,
squashing the rumors.
When controversial issues that affect students, such as discipline
policy reform
and a progress report of the Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational
Commons, were presented at faculty meetings, I was not only there, but
exercising my speaking privileges on behalf of students. I spoke before the
Academic Council in favor of reduced self-help requirements for undergrads
receiving financial aid, so that they'll graduate with less debt. When there
were issues that needed lots of student input, such as reforming
alcohol policy
or deciding whether to bring Ruckus Network to campus, I was emailing
this list,
and many others, collecting student feedback and presenting it to
administrators.
Steve is newer to student government, but he's demonstrated the same
commitment
during his time. He's known as the Greek senator who takes the time to
communicate with his constituents. He (as well as myself and Andrew)
were part
of the group that reduced the UA's budget for this term by ~$10,000, so that
Finboard could have more money. He formed SCATR, a committee which is
interviewing all levels of the administration to find out more information
about what they do and how they can help students, and is working to increase
transparency in relations between administrators and students. I believe that
he is a better manager of the UA than I am, good at enforcing what needs to
happen and extremely insightful.
We have demonstrated our effectiveness at using the UA for its proper purpose,
and now we would be honored to serve in the roles of P and VP and continue our
advocacy. I could provide a list of things we might do, but nobody ever
actually knows what the big issues are going to be for any given year. We are
committed to preserving the values of MIT and its students - autonomy,
challenging oneself, the freedom to take risks, and educational rigor (and on
that topic, we will be following the Task Force on the Undergraduate
Educational Commons closely, as their first draft is expected soon). And as
issues surrounding these values come up, we will respond, as we have proven
that we can do. And as it becomes clear what the student body needs
and wants,
we will initiate projects to serve them. We encourage you to join us in our
commitment, and cast your vote for us.
- Jessie
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