LETTER: Congrats to new officers

Editor,

Now that campaigning craziness is over and the tally has been taken, I would like to publicly congratulate the new ASUSU officers. I would also like to thank those who ran but didn’t experience the thrill of victory. The typical consoling sayings like “You ran a good race,” “I thought you should have won,” or “I am sure you will find other great things to do next year” all seem weak and phony — so I will just stick to “Thank you.”

I am grateful for those who care enough about making a difference at Utah State to stand out in the cold for hours talking to people, to knock doors every night, and to try to balance their academics during two intense weeks of Hades. Contrary to popular belief, candidates pay for their own elections.

There are complaints every year that our elections remind students of high school. To them I would say that it is because people don’t care enough to find out who the candidates are. It would be refreshing for candidates to be able to discard the games and just talk about the issues. Unfortunately, on this campus it is not possible if you want to win. Perhaps in the future, students at large will heighten their awareness and concern, and we can discard all of the clever stunts. Until that day, let’s not place all the blame on those campaigning.

Finally, a lot can be said about unopposed races. However, let me assure you, when your new Academic vice president filed to run, she was not expecting an unopposed race. She was willing to campaign as hard as anyone else to make office. I have full faith in her ability to represent the academic needs of the students and do her best in the capacity she will soon find herself. I take my hat off to Karla Petty and the other unopposed officers who were willing to put up a good fight and ended up being the only ones who cared enough about their office to run.

Ericka Ensign