An opposing force

Two write-in candidates for ASMC elections

By Michelle Anstett
Courier Staff

While students will be handed a ballot during the ASMC elections bearing only the names of Richard Harrod and Paige Halpin, there is another pair of candidates wishing to be elected.

Juniors Silvia Fabela and Ben Sauer cannot officially appear on the ballot due to a technicality in “interpretation” of the ASMC constitution.

According to Article III, Section III, students wishing to be elected ASMC president and vice president must have “attended at least 75 percent of the Student Senate meetings that academic year (two semesters preceding the election, including the semester the election occurs within) prior to the election filing deadline.”

Fabela, who is attempting to become the first write-in president of ASMC, is a political science major from Glendale Heights, Ill.

She spent last semester studying in Washington, D.C., and her off-campus experience is the reason why the pair cannot officially be on the ballot.

She has served as the Students Organized for Service (SOS) representative for the last two years and was a member of both the Student Affairs and Cons-titution Committees.

As a result of her off-campus experience and interacting with students from all over the country, Fabela believes she has a clear understanding of what college life should be.

She feels she possesses a “more effective way of conveying” student needs to the administration than have been employed in the past few years, which will help to make campus life better overall.

Sauer, a transfer political science and philosophy major from Elgin, Ill., is in his first year as a senator.

In representing Graham Hall in the ASMC, he has served on the Faculty Curriculum Committee and is chair of the Information Systems Committee.

Sauer seeks to restore a “sense of balance” to the executive board of ASMC, and Monmouth College at large.

Certain organizations have been frowned upon, according to Sauer, and the balance should begin with the ASMC executive board.

Both Fabela and Sauer have plans in the works, which they would like to see implemented if they win.

They would like to start with attempting to get finals removed from weekends and to work closely with the administration on the housing issues of recent years.

The pair would also like “students to have more input” in terms of administrative decisions.

The ASMC, according to them, is rarely asked to help make campus decisions and they would like to change this problem and they would also like to see the ASMC opened to all students, as the meetings feel too selective as they are now.

Fabela and Sauer will not appear on the ballot during elections on April 18, but their names can be written in by any student wishing to vote for them.

They encourage all students to vote, regardless of the candidates they select.