RHA's Connect appoints VP

The Connect ticket, the winner of this year's Residence Halls Association elections, appointed sophomore Kyle Campbell to the position of vice president of internal affairs. The position became open after the elected winner, sophomore Joe Reid, was disqualified for sending out a mass e-mail, which was prohibited by the RHA election commissioners.\nRHA President John Palmer initially said he would appoint Reid to the position, even after he was disqualified.\n"I am planning on appointing Joe Reid," Palmer said in a story in the Indiana Daily Student March 8. "He's worked really hard to get where he is."\nPalmer said upon talking with the other executives, he decided it would be more fair to open the position to other candidates through an application process. \nReid said he was upset initially, but has since gotten over the disappointment.\n"It was the position that I ran for with (Connect)," Reid said. "I'm upset, I'm a little disappointed I wasn't able to get the position. I think it's normal when you really want something and you don't get it, to be an element of being upset. But, it's probably for the best."\nDeciding on Campbell, Palmer said, wasn't an easy choice.\n"It was a very difficult choice," he said. "We knew a lot of the people quite well and we were trying to make sure we treated everyone equally just by looking at the application, the resume and the interview. That was our main objective."\nCampbell said he felt he showed he was the best candidate for the job.\n"(Palmer) decided it was probably better to get truly the best candidate for the job," Campbell said. "At our last (meeting), Joe was upset and I wasn't sure if he would apply, so I did."\nAfter applying, Campbell had to be approved by the Presidents' Council, a body of the elected presidents in each dorm's student government. The 11-member committee approved Campbell unanimously. \nCampbell said he is eager to get on with the agenda for the year, now that the dust has settled. \n"My biggest goal is to continue opening up the line of communication with the administration," he said. "My job is mostly administrative, like dealing with the constitution and making sure all the executives and directors and presidents work well together."\nCampbell said he doesn't feel like an outsider, even though he's joining the Connect party after the election has ended.\n"It's going to take getting used to their ideas and things," he said. "I mean, they put together a ticket and ran an election together."\nCampbell said he believes RHA can do its best work if they be an effective intermediary between students in the dorms and the administration.\n"The students need to be brave enough to tell (administration) what they want," Campbell said. "Some of the best ideas they have had have been due to student input."\nPalmer said he's confident he made the right choice. \n"I think we've made a good decision in the end, even though the process was pretty difficult and definitely a really tough decision," Palmer said. "I think we made the right one. Kyle seems to be the kind of candidate who's ready for business."\n-- Contact staff writer Cecelia Wolford at cwolford@indiana.edu.