[7203] in APO-L
Re: student government endorsements
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robin of Locksley)
Fri Nov 12 16:31:32 1993
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 16:27:42 -0500
Reply-To: Robin of Locksley <kckbxr@WAM.UMD.EDU>
From: Robin of Locksley <kckbxr@WAM.UMD.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L%PURCCVM.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Most student governments, in which I've known about, or mostly
political organizations. I just finished my term as an elected SGA
legislator (some campuses call them senators...) and as Chairperson
of the campus' Safety & Security Committee (Remember the postings
about Escort Services?) at the University of Maryland College Park
campus. I do NOT recommend getting endorsements from ANY group on
campus, but instead look for support. Although an endorsement sounds
great, they're really not what people perceive them to be. Trust me,
I've voted on several. Personally, I prefer to abstain from an
endorsement. Especially if you don't know much about the
organization or about a candidate. It may backfire in the end. I
don't recommend chapters endorse a particular candidate, but instead
(if preferred) support them in behind-the-scenes matters.
Usually people don't need endorsements. All an endorsement is is a
stamp of approval from a group...it doesn't even add up to 1/2 a
resume in the real scheme of things. An endorsement, for the most
part, gives a candidate more legitamacy and can help with PR. A good
candidate should have good PR and not need an endorsement. It is
mostly a political move to get better acceptance.
BTW, I won my seat by being asked to join a party that had some good
points and was serious about wanting to help the campus...as I was
and still am. I did not seek any endorsements. Over the last year,
I learned that most (at least on this campus) SGA people do it for
their own resumes. Only a few people genuinely do SGA to help make
the campus a better place. I served my term proudly and am even
prouder to say that a great majority of my constituents tended to be
apoers. The chapter at the University of Maryland is an extremely
diversified chapter and represents a great sample of UM students. I
wished that I could continue, however, my academic and future career
(I'm in ROTC) pursuits take up a majority of my time. I hope I was
helpful in answering your question, Reds.
In LF&S,
Coach
Epsilon Mu (Univ of Maryland, College Park)
