Editorial: Election scandals are ‘unsettling’

Thursday, April 12, 2007

It’s little wonder that politics has a negative connotation.

Recent allegations of scandal in student body politics are disheartening, and not just because they allude to dirty campaigning and a lack of cooperation or solidarity in Student Senate. More significantly, such accusations suggest that, through student elections, university students are enabling the very conniving politicians that we complain about in “real” politics.

Delta Force filed a case against United Students for defamation, alleging that presidential candidates Hannah Love and Ray Wittlinger had, on numerous occasions, lied about the number of bills they had authored in Student Senate as well as the number of bills authored by John Cross, Delta Force presidential candidate and student senator. Unconfirmed evidence suggests that Love had authored only 18 bills instead of 29 and Wittlinger, a three-year student senator, had authored none. Cross is said to have actually authored four bills instead of one.

On Tuesday, the Hearing Board Committee issued a continuance on this case, which will not be readdressed until after the election. However, Cayla Witty, election commissioner, suggested that, if the accusations are verified, United Students’ actions may have been egregious enough to disqualify Love and Wittlinger.

Regardless of the outcome in this case, it is unsettling that university students may be voting for less-than-honest individuals whose actions could be harbingers of shady political careers. It is not the magnitude of the alleged behavior that is disappointing – such behavior could easily be considered petty – but the idea that students with political aspirations could so easily disregard rules, regulations and respect for their fellow candidates.

Indeed, the individuals that students empower in college could be future dazzling, well-spoken politicians whose lies give politics a bad name. In the future, these persons’ political capabilities may be more significant than decisions regarding a $1 increase in student fees.

—Alison Kieler for the editorial board

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