Disclosure notice: Maroon photo editor Rachel Strassel is a member of the SGA Court of Review, and senior staff writer Jordan Hultine is Cade Cypriano’s campaign manager. To avoid a conflict of interest, they did not participate in this endorsement.
You can almost see the wheels turning inside Cade Cypriano’s head. This presidential candidate can fire off a ready answer to any curveball question, and his response will reflect how comfortable he is maneuvering around Loyola’s political scene.
Cypriano’s confidence and ease have given him an edge over his opponent, Greg Fontenot, in this year’s Student Government Association presidential race. This is why The Maroon has chosen to endorse him.
Cypriano, political science junior, has been at home in the SGA’s basement office since he was a freshman. He’s up to speed not only on the issues students face – from book costs to major school renovations – but also on the administrative players with whom he would have to work to make his goals work.While Fontenot has the advantage of a broad resume, stretching from Phi Kappa Psi to Residential Life, he lacks this internal SGA know-how.
Cypriano has also shown a degree of cleverness in finding ways to make his plans feasible. For example, since Student Health won’t carry birth control, he’s advocating bringing in an independent professional to write the prescriptions. Cypriano’s willingness to circumvent the system shows independent spirit. Hopefully that means he would be able to avoid being put on an administrative leash.
That being said, we also believe Cypriano would be able to work with the higher-ups at Loyola. He has a direct presence and he speaks articulately, which are tremendous assets to anyone called upon to speak with the Board of Trustees or rally people behind a cause.
His one glaring drawback is his lack of direct involvement with other groups on campus. As he admits (somewhat tongue in cheek) on his Web site, “I spend the better part of my life in the basement of the Danna Center tirelessly playing with microchillers and ordering chalk for pool cues.”
However, he also authored the forthcoming House of Representatives, consisting of representatives from student groups. While unproven, this legislative branch is predicted to raise the volume of students’ voices.
If he’s elected, Cypriano’s greatest challenge will be to make sure Loyola students feel their president truly represents their interests. Cypriano has voiced his opinion publicly at Loyola, through both his Maroon column and less conventional outlets – his solitary protest of last year’s LUCAP die-in on the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war, for example.
Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but when Cypriano’s personal politics clash with those of his constituents, he should set his position aside and speak as the voice of the students.
