"Will Mount is unrealistic." How many American University students have read this phrase in the various campus media? How many have heard it escape the mouths of other SC candidates? This election should not be a Will Mount referendum, and I fear that it has become that when I listen to responses given at the various forums and debates. This race should be about the students, and what each candidate is willing to put on the line to give them the best representation possible. Several candidates would prefer to focus on my campaign rather than actually conduct a campaign on their own.
Every idea I have put out there comes from students themselves. When I made the decision that I would seek the nomination, I knocked on every door on campus. How else would I be able to create a platform that works from the bottom up, a plan that comes from the very minds of those we attempt to represent? When you mock my plan as unrealistic, you mock the hundreds of students it came from.
The fact that other candidates reject my platform is the very reason why the SC has had so many problems in the past. SC members have refused to take risks for the students they represent. I have heard "It can't be done," far more times by candidates and administration officials than any sound plan to help AU reach its full potential. The question that should be asked is, "Why not?" We should continue to push the envelope, push the SC, and push the administration. If we shoot for the stars and are prepared to settle for the moon, we can finally give students the school they pay for and deserve. With that said, let me explain to you how my plan is anything but unrealistic.
It's already being built. The University already thinks it is feasible. We want to move it up the priority list and ensure that it is expedient, effective, and efficient.
As was thankfully mentioned, the Capital Campaign is being used to build a student entertainment center. Let's expedite the process. I'm not running for posterity - I want to do a great job now. There will not be a single sitting student at this school that will be here in ten years.
Ten years down the road is way too long a wait. I would rather Big Steve and Matt Miller enjoy the student union instead of little Steve and Matt Miller, Jr. In order to enjoy its future benefits, you have to currently be a third-grader. We can not allow Ladner to talk from both sides of his mouth. I am not afraid to tell the administration there is a better way. In fact, I'm the only candidate who has. We have contacts with alumni and other local sponsors and we are willing to use them.
Why wait? The school is aiming to raise $200 million dollars in order to get this 10-year plan realized. They have already raised $60 million. Unrealistic? You don't need a calculator or Einstein and his rough rider posse of physicists to figure out we could afford to start now.
First of all, the administration should have asked the students before they used its money to turn the Tavern into a technicolor dream coat. If anything, I think that is one specific reason that supports a vote for me. Secondly, they're apparently renovating it without asking our permission AGAIN. My opinion of entertainment is neither a smoothie nor watching an underpaid worker spin a pretzel. We plan to use the new renovations to our advantage; not the administration's.
It needs to be acknowledged in this campaign that The SC president has to be ready to be the bull horn of the student body; he or she needs to be the person that magnifies the voice of students until it reaches the deaf ears of the administration.
I know I took a risk unveiling a difficult, specific policy. If you're looking for the ordinary, I'm not your candidate. I have the guts to display big ideas on the campaign trail and I can accomplish them while in office. I have done it in the past and I gladly hold my record up against everyone else's.
The funny thing is, this has happened before. When I was in the General Assembly, some members called me unrealistic for attempting to pass the Women's Initiative bill. It failed in committee, but the idea reached the table. Now it's a department. Unrealistic? I beg to differ.
I respect the opinions of both Matt Miller and Big Steve, but my plan is not fluff. Running on a positive platform, thanking the administration for everything we have defeats the purpose of running for SC president in the first place. Why waste your vote? If everything is fine the way it is, why run?
A few years ago, Katsura Kurita told students that they weren't allowed to partake in meetings regarding judicial affairs and student rights. Since then, they have been able to corner students into parental notification intolerant drug and alcohol policies, such as one strike and you're off campus, and alcohol transport policy. The administration cut both student seats from the budget meetings. I guess everything must be fine though. Let's work with the administration on everything, right? Opposition is futile and incorrect anyway. In fact, it's just plain unrealistic, right?
Wrong. That's NOT the way to think about it. That's the defeatist view.
I could see the anger in the face of the other candidates as they complained about my plans. Ironically it reflected the anger of the administration when it attempts to curtail the rights of students like the ones whose door I knocked on.
Everything is not fine. Sure, American University is a great school and it has its strengths, but I am not running to justify the schools rapidly rising tuition. I focus on what needs change. Let's play pretend for a minute. Pretend the school is perfect; pretend the laundry machines were just the right size and free. Pretend TDR served a five-star meal. Pretend the school climbed the charts as the tuition continuously went down. But despite all these great changes, one leaky sink drip-dripped away in a Leonard Hall bathroom. I would run on a platform that fixed the sink. That should be the point of running. Forget the good. We need to start a dialogue about what needs to change, and what needs to be fixed. I am the only candidate that has offered a plan, and I am the only guy that can get it done. I've done it before and I'll do it again.
