A hopeful Hoosier

The outgoing Betsy Henke IU Student Association administration will be a hard act to follow. With successes in the area of student representation and administrative effort, it has proved to be far better than recent administrations.\nIn hopes the executive ticket-elect would be capable of following in those footsteps, the editorial board sat down with the incoming Hoosier party to find out its plans for next year.\nWith easy smiles and earnest energy – despite tough questions – the new voices for the student body made it clear that, though they were not “elected” per se, they take their positions as the undergraduate voice and advocacy group seriously. As a thorn in the side of the University, they promise that when the IU bureaucracy shuts doors in their faces – which often happened to Henke and her crew – they will always “try, try again.”\nThe party’s mouthpiece, vice-presidential candidate Joe DeJean, began nearly every answer to questions posed to the party by saying, “We just want to do what’s best for Bloomington students.” The rest of the ticket gave reassuring nods.\nConcerns with getting better student representation in administration decisions, promoting financial transparency, eliciting student involvement through petitions and protests, and improving IUSA’s visibility around campus are all important to the ticket. The group displayed dedication to learn the bureaucratic process in two ways: speaking directly with the University administration and starting grass-roots endeavors, such as petitions and student gatherings.\nThe editorial board is excited about what we have heard from the ticket-elect, and we hope Hoosier will follow through on its proposals. Especially enticing is its plan to push back the student drop/add date to give undergrads more time to accurately assess their classes. Incoming treasurer candidate Alex Gutmann said she is hard at work on the issue. And campus visibility can only add to student involvement in University politics, an effort presidential candidate W.T. Wright would like to see increased.\nWe are, however, cautious in our support. Hoosier’s repetition of “just wanting to do what’s best for students,” though initially reassuring, has the potential of being only a catchy campaign slogan.\nWhen pressed to elaborate on what exactly the phrase meant, party members revealed a lack of fluency in student affairs, especially regarding environmental policies and equal representation of minorities. However, they said they have every intention of educating themselves and reaching out to diverse student groups to better gauge what students’ needs are.\nIf they do their research, we feel they have both the capability and desire to be successful. And we will be keeping a close eye on their actions.\nWe certainly appreciate the candidates’ enthusiasm and willingness to recognize IUSA’s role for the student body. We hope the maddening bureaucracy does not beat the idealism out of them. They recognize the unique situation they’ve come into and are seizing the opportunity to learn from their predecessors so that, come fall, they will be well-prepared to handle their positions.\nThat advantage, coupled with their can-do attitude, could make the upcoming Hoosier administration a very dynamic and student-oriented organization.