Volume 96, Issue 77
Friday, February 14, 2003
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EDITORIAL
How to make a USC president
With this year's University Students' Council presidential election campaign winding down, not one wannabe prez has risen dramatically above the others.
Instead, there are four candidates – Brook Dyson, Cameron McAlpine, Neil Uttamsingh and Paul Yeomen – who, despite their individual strengths and weaknesses, have displayed an equally mild competence for the position they are seeking.
In the hopes of establishing a USC utopia, The Gazette has taken
it upon itself to create a "Franken-president," combining the
best attributes each of the four contenders brings to the table.
Let us build you a candidate worthy of making you pay attention to student politics.
Give us Brook Dyson's ability to speak with passion and conviction, even
after countless presidential forums. Students want to be represented by
someone with a little fire in the belly, who doesn't
just appear to be spitting out recycled ideas from USC elections past.
Some of Dyson's tangible platform ideas, and his down-to-earth approach
to student interaction are very admirable and would serve both students
and the USC well.
Articulation and a willingness to discuss his ideas at
great length are the assets we want from Cameron McAlpine. McAlpine has
proven that he will not rest until his voice is heard – and his oratory
skills would prove quite useful as the USC top dog.
Wouldn't it be nice if more of the people you met – and just one
politician – came off with the sincerity of Neil
Uttamsingh? Clad in his ties, shirts, suits and with his well-quaffed
hair, he presents an air of professionalism, without a pretentious, stuck-up
attitude. Uttamisngh's incessant smiling is contagious, giving him the
ability to win over the most stone-hearted of Western students. A president
with Uttamsingh's genuine charm would be invaluable.
Paul Yeoman brings the years of experience required to
handle the role of USC president. His intricate knowledge of the USC,
Senate, faculty councils and Western issues, are a necessity when making
the kind of decisions a president faces on a daily basis. The ability
to fly by the seat of your pants might be an admirable quality in life,
but we'd like our student leaders (especially the one that sits in the
highest student office) to be able to draw upon an ever-increasing array
of knowledge when navigating the USC ship.
We'd like nothing better than to bring this mythical candidate to life for the students of Western, but, alas, we're journalists, not mad scientists.
However, there was one genetics trend we did pick up on. This year's race was a boys club and one can't help but wonder how things might have been different had some of Western's very capable female students ran. One in particular does come to mind.
We think she'd WIN.
LETTERS