This year, we should approach the SGA elections with a strong sense of optimism because, no matter which presidential candidate is elected, things are going to improve. The past year or two have been lackluster for SGA and this year’s candidates seem willing and able to change that.
As candidate Kate Gremillion pointed out, Cade Cypriano’s administration had a problem communicating with the student body and seemed to represent the administration more than the students. Sarah Cooper’s administration, on the other hand, had the opposite problem. They worked well with the student body, but proved patently unable to get anything done.
So, we have three candidates (Gremillion, Cody Dardeau and John Valdespino), all of whom have made a point of isolating the problems of the past administrations and disposing of them, while highlighting and expanding on the successes.
The question remains, however: which candidate will do the best job representing the student body faithfully and effectively?
This race is a race of extremes. On one end of the spectrum is Valdespino, a man who is completely new to student government. So new, in fact, that he seems to have no conception of what it actually is that the SGA president does.
Still, he sincerely believes that he can help the student body more than previous presidents. As his sign of commitment to this he has pledged to forfeit his salary — a full tuition remission — in order to create a scholarship for “more deserving students.”
While this act is admirable and selfless, Valdespino seems woefully ignorant as to what would come next. On top of this, he is very hard to take seriously. He does, however, have a great sense of humor.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Gremillion, a veteran of both the Cypriano and Cooper administrations. Gremillion is charismatic, polished, and experienced, having seen, and hopefully learned from, the mistakes and successes of the last two administrations.
However, she is going to have a hard time distancing herself from those administrations, for though she had the right answer for every question, her answers did not match her performance in major roles of both of the prior administrations.
As chief of staff, she was charged with organizing a staff that was ineffectual at best. The administration failed to deliver on most of its campus promises.
Gremillion rightly points out that much of the responsiblity for those failings lay with the president and that her administration is not that of Sarah Cooper. However, she seems to be making many of the same promises as Cooper, and with equally little assurance that they will be carried out.
Furthermore, she has the mixed blessing of being a very good politician. Granted, she is articulate, confident and quick on her feet. This also tends to leave people with the feeling that they have been flimflammed; fed a very pretty serving of words that don’t necessarily mean much.
In the middle of the spectrum we have Cody Dardeau.
Dardeau knows what he is talking about. Though he does not necessarily have the depth of knowledge that Gremillion’s experience brings to the table, he is very intelligent and ready to accept advice and learn from his mistakes. There is certainly something to be said for a president who does not believe that he is infallible.
Dardeau is strikingly open and sincere, completely dedicated to his goal of bettering student life here at Loyola. When he speaks, he does so with passion and sincerity, excited, not by the prospect of the presidency, but by the chance to act on his plans with the full participation of the student body.
He speaks plainly, without a trace of hidden meanings or personal agendas, without concerns of people using his words against him. While this may leave him open to attacks during the upcoming debates, it will serve him well as he works to faithfully serve the student body.
His plan to allocate more money to student organizations, which he believes to be the building blocks of Loyola’s student involvement, is admirable and well thought out. He has already proven his willingness to serve the student body in thankless jobs in his work as an officer in training with the LUPD and as a justice on the Court of Review.
Dardeau, through his actions and deeds over the past two years, has proved himself to truly be a man who firmly believes and practices the Ignation ideals. He is a man for and with others.
While not the consummate, articulate, aggressive politician that is Gremillion, nor a complete outsider like Valdespino, Cody Dardeau is the most that we could hope for in a SGA president. He is a solid, intelligent, good person who we should be proud to have as the face of the student body.
