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Reality check: USUSA Executive Council on fulfilling campaign promises

Student body officers are the first to admit they don’t always accomplish the same goals that got them elected, but that might not be a bad thing.

Of the 41 total initiatives, both pre-election and post-election, undertaken by the Utah State University Student Association’s executive council this year, 19 could be classified as accomplished. This left 11 goals unaccomplished and 11 “in the works” — goals officers are currently working on or plan to pass on to their successors.

In fact, all of the goals officers failed to achieve this year were a result of what USUSA Student Body President Trevor Sean Olsen said could be described as “short-sightedness” — things that may have sounded good as part of a campaign platform but didn’t always translate well into reality. With the exception of Leah Calder and Sawyer Hemsley — Service VP and Student Events VP, respectively — every officer admitted to campaigning on at least one goal that fit into this category.

“I think that’s just the reality,” said Student Advocate VP Ashley Waddoups. “Once you get in you’re like, ‘Oh, shoot, that’s actually not a good idea.’”

Waddoups, who was able to accomplish all but one of her campaign goals, said she didn’t realize until after taking office that her hope to “connect USU students to the Capitol” just “wasn’t that feasible.”

“I just realized there was some give-and-take on what I wanted to accomplish,” Waddoups said.

For her, that “give-and-take” became a series of social activism initiatives beginning with the “Heroes, Not Victims” sexual assault discussion panel held last November — a campaign she hopes to continue as president next year.

Olsen, whose campaign for president consisted almost entirely of initiatives he admits were not accomplished, said he was concerned about accountability for not “following up” on a lot of the ideas he proposed during elections, but that, “a lot of the stuff I just passed on so I could focus on other stuff.”

“Other stuff,” it turns out, was, in large part, a campaign to increase USU students’ awareness of and opportunities to get help with mental health issues.

Olsen said after hearing statistics about suicides and attempted suicides, as well as the amount of students who visit USU’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) office — which currently has a three-to-four week wait — he realized he should focus his attention on mental health.

“When I heard all of this stuff I felt like this was the change that I needed to make,” Olsen said. “I knew that’s what I wanted my legacy to be.”

Olsen partnered with Graduate Studies Senator Ty Aller to promote and improve Aller’s “Mental Health is No Joke” campaign, which will take place this week. He also worked with the university’s Vice President for Student Affairs, James Morales, in researching ways to improve the CAPS center. His mental health initiative was also taken on state-wide by the Utah Student Association and is being incorporated into that organization’s legislation.

Olsen wasn’t the only officer who campaigned on unrealistic promises. Athletics and Campus Recreation VP Thomas Rogers and Organization and Campus Diversity VP Luis Armenta both failed to accomplish almost all of the initiatives they used as campaign fodder. And, like Olsen, their accomplishments in office prove that failure to achieve a campaign goal doesn’t always translate to lack of success in office.

“I think every officer has amazing goals and every officer does accomplish as many goals as they can,” said Rogers, “but I realized coming into the position there were things I didn’t think I needed to focus on as much that I learned should be the focus of this year.”

In lieu of his original goals, Rogers spent much of his time in office working with the Hurd Committee to implement the new Hurd Rewards program and to increase student involvement in athletic events through social media and marketing.

“A lot of the stuff, you come in and you’re just like, ‘Oh, why don’t we have that?’ And then you never thought of that to campaign,” Rogers said.

Armenta faced a similar dilemma when, upon taking office, he realized the infrastructure necessary to accomplish his original goals wasn’t in place.

“When I came into office, I realized there were big, pressing matters at hand that needed to go in front,” Armenta said. “So a lot of those goals, I realized, were kind of on the back-burner.”

Armenta hopes the steps he took to set up better infrastructure for clubs and diverse groups on campus will help him accomplish his original goals during a second term in office this upcoming school year. These steps included forming a Diversity Cabinet to unite the Access and Diversity Center and the Office of Global Engagement, as well as creating three new club director positions to help promote on-campus organizations next year.

“It’s a beast, but I love it, and that’s why I’m back in office, because I love it and I want to see the fruits of my labors actually come forward,” Armenta said.

Though he plans on accomplishing his original campaign goals during his second term, Armenta speculated that those goals weren’t necessarily what got him elected in the first place.

“That’s my beef with these kinds of politics — when I ran for office, it was all about who’s the coolest and they’re going to get elected,” said Armenta, “but once you’re in the position you realize how much you make an impact.”

Executive VP Thomas Buttars agreed that campaign goals aren’t always the most important factor in an election.

“I’d say a majority of students kind of forget who they voted for and why,” said Buttars, “but there is the rare exception of students who do remember what you said and will remind you if you’re not doing those things.”

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Brenna Kelly contributed to this story.