After a very, very long afternoon in a sauna — we mean office — of niceties from politicos in training and conversation after conversation about the Reitz Union’s renovation and expansion, we’d like to present you with our spring 2010 endorsement. Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because this endorsement may surprise you.
Unlike U.S. presidential elections, SG tickets are not inextricably fused. Students cast a separate vote for treasurer than president and vice president. So we chose the candidates — not the party — we felt would best represent students.
We have chosen not to endorse a candidate for Student Body president because both Unite Party candidate Ashton Charles and Student Alliance party candidate Ben Cavataro are qualified, well-versed in Student Government and hard workers. After talking to both of these candidates, it was clear that either would do well in office, and we trust them both.
Charles is the Senate President and has experience working with the administration. She is a powerful speaker with a natural gift for engaging people, and she is sincere and motivated. Cavataro, who is just as experienced as Charles in networking and public service, is the president of Florida College Democrats, proving his determination and ability to succeed in the public eye. He has proven he genuinely cares about the Student Body and will fight to stand up for the good of UF students.
Both are in favor of putting voting records and budget details online, being true advocates on behalf of the student voice in front of the Board of Trustees and making the goings-on of SG generally more transparent. The Editorial Board believes students should decide which candidate they would be comfortable and proud to have represent them.
When it comes to the other positions and issues we were able to make decisions.
The Editorial Board endorses Student Alliance party candidate Sagar Sane for Student Body vice president. His ideas on creating an endowment fund that would take Accent and Student Government Productions off of Student Activity and Service Fees (money taken out of our tuition) and making them self-sustaining entities is innovative and economically savvy. Furthermore, it would allow the more than $1 million used to fund those organizations be spent elsewhere, like funding student groups. Sane already set up a fund like this from scratch at his previous school, which gives us peace of mind and confidence that he’ll be able to do it here successfully.
As for Student Body treasurer, the Editorial Board is going to pick the candidate with the most experience, and Unite Party candidate Virlany Taboada has plenty of it. She is the chairwoman of the Senate’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, which means she deals with SG’s budget on a daily basis. She supports a more transparent SG budget, which will always pull at our heartstrings.
There’s one referendum question that has caused a lot of talk. First of all, keep in mind that a referendum question is like a survey, it’s only to measure students’ opinions, not take any action. The Editorial Board... drum roll please... is endorsing the renovation and expansion of the Reitz Union. Its clear the union has seen better days, and it’s going to cost $42.5 million to fix it. There are still utilities that have been there since 1967.
Now, before you crumple up the paper and throw it away in anger, you should know students aren’t going to be the only people funding the new union. Reitz advocates will be seeking out money from the Capital Improvement Trust Fund, which is currently funding Southwest Rec Center’s renovation, and alumni donations. The proposed dollar amounts aren’t set in stone and could even be lower. The new union could have more meeting space student organizations need, more parking, far more study space and a 1,500 person auditorium. These are all things UF needs and our current union lacks.
However, our support of the expansion is conditional and hinges on one important point: We’re only in favor if SG keeps its promise to do everything it can to make sure graduate assistants do not pay the fee.
See you at the polls! (Seriously, we’d better see you there.)
