Write-in candidate

I have spent the past three years dedicated to the WSA. To many, the idea of spending one’s life working for the WSA seems crazy, because it is often difficult for us as an assembly to communicate the extent to which we are effective and productive on campus. But I can tell you that in the past three years I have been very successful at advocating for students and improving student life on campus. I have overseen the one-half million dollar fund we allocate annually to the student body, I have protected that money from administrator control, I have started a fundraiser with University Relations so that alumni could donate money directly to student activities and student life, I have fought for and obtained the continuation of summer storage on campus, double beds in woodframes, and a proper implementation of gender neutral housing, as well as many more things.

But my purpose in this Wespeak is not the importance of the WSA on campus. My point is to inform the campus about my unfortunate position in this upcoming election, highlighting one of the most frustrating aspects of the WSA. Due to an honest misunderstanding on my part I turned my petition for candidacy in two hours late. My opponent reported me and thus disqualified me as an official candidate on the ballot, even though my error did not affect her or her campaign in any way. Thus I am not able to appear on the ballot.

While I strongly believe in and care about the WSA, this focus on technicalities is often detrimental to its purpose. In this case, the VP election now offers only one option, undermining the democratic principle of representation that provides the WSA with the legitimacy to represent the students. Despite my disqualification as a candidate on the ballot I am still presenting myself as an alternative, more experienced and more accomplished candidate. Support the strong student leadership and oppose a WSA that gets lost in technicalities by writing in B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y Mitchell for VP.