UF’s Student Government needs an overhaul.
The Swamp Party holds about three-quarters of the seats in the Student Senate, controls the executive branch, controls a multimillion-dollar budget and the funding for registered student organizations.
Whose crazy idea was this? Did no one see the potential for one party to gain absolute control of SG and its resources? Did no one expect that once in power, students who belonged to this party would try to do everything possible to maintain that power?
Last Spring, the Swamp — then Unite — Party showed its true colors.
On the first day of elections, when the Alligator ran an endorsement for the Students Party from head football coach Will Muschamp, the Unite Party Senate President Pro Tempore Jason Tiemeier threw away copies of the Alligator.
OK, so, the Unite Party admitted that one of its members went rogue, misbehaved and should be castigated, but that he doesn’t represent the other members of the party, right?
Wrong.
Not only did they deny Tiemeier’s involvement, but Unite Party officials, including the Swamp Party’s current candidate for Student Body President, Christina Bonarrigo, argued that the Alligator fabricated the story.
To make matters worse, the Unite Party candidate for Student Body President at the time, Tj Villamil, posted a video on YouTube calling the Alligator racists and liars for reporting the incident, accusations for which he’s never publicly apologized.
Tiemeier eventually apologized in a letter to the Alligator and confirmed that Unite Party Senator Katie Waldman was with him during the incident.
Waldman remained silent during the ordeal. Unite Party leaders saw it fit to award Waldman’s loyalty by appointing her to chairwoman of the allocations committee. Bonarrigo defended the appointment, arguing Waldman had no ethical obligation to come forward, even though Waldman sat on the ethics committee.
During the same election, a student told the Alligator that leaders in her sorority castigated her for posting a Facebook message that endorsed the Students Party.
The student also told the Alligator that her sorority kept a board used to pressure members into voting for the Unite Party.
This semester, an email sent by Leah Miller asked fraternity house “representatives to collect ‘I Voted’ stickers from everyone in their rosters and supply the party with a $250 check,” according to Alligator archives.
All of this nonsense doesn’t even include election code revisions SG passed during the Summer that were so vague and restrictive that the UF Supreme Court struck them down.
The list of unethical practices, coercions and corruptions goes on.
The Swamp Party has grown accustomed to a way of doing things and will stop at nothing to ensure it wins each election. It claims the Students Party has done nothing for the students, glossing over the fact that a minority party has little to no chance to accomplish much of anything when the party in power blocks it at every turn.
If you’ve ever felt like it was time for change, now’s your chance to make it happen.
If you’ve ever felt that one group of students has too much power at UF, now’s your chance to change it. If you are a member of the Greek community and feel pressured to vote or support candidates with whom you disagree, now’s your chance to change it.
Most important, don’t feel pressured to vote against your conscience because no one, not even SG leaders, will know how you voted. It’s all anonymous.
Go ahead, bring back a sticker to put on a board — just don’t tell them you voted for the Students Party.
Justin Hayes is pursuing a master’s degree in political communication. His column appears on Wednesdays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
