Will Salem/Williams Let the Crazies Take Over?

Yesterday morning it was announced that Rammy Salem and Ola Williams had won the election for Student Assembly President and Executive Vice-President. This was the first year that the top two student leaders were directly elected by the student body, as opposed to by their fellow S.A. members.

As for why they won, I suspect it's a combination of the Sun endorsement and the pair's aggressive campaigning (I saw Salem on Ho Plaza nearly every time I walked by this week).

I congratulate them on their victory, but I am concerned about one of their main campaign promises: If any student attends three consecutive S.A. meetings, s/he will receive full voting rights for the remainder of the semester.

This is a really bad idea.

Imagine if this policy had been in place before the S.A.'s ultimately meaningless vote last spring on whether to allow the concealed carry of firearms on campus. Supporters of the resolution could have brought 15-20 like-minded students to S.A. meetings earlier in the semester, and then used these ringers to overpower the actual Assembly members and force passage of the resolution. We could see situations in which an active, yet small, minority of students, force generally unpopular resolutions through the S.A.

Translated to the national level, this is precisely what James Madison was concerned about when he wrote Federalist No. 10. Although the S.A. is elected by students, there needs to be some degree of separation between our elected representatives and the greater student body in order to prevent these types of situations.

I wish Salem and Williams the best of luck in the coming year. I had a discussion section with Salem last semester and I'm confident that he can succeed in this position. Next year's S.A. will certainly have enough to worry about, between the ongoing SAFC controversy and budget cuts everywhere. Still, I hope that they realize the fallacy of this idea.