While campaigning last year for the position of Student Government vice president, Pat McGill promised to replace the annual Founder's Day Ball with "Bender Bash," a carnival in Bender Arena that would conserve funds for other events.
One year later, McGill is the SG vice president, and yet the Founder's Day Ball was held Feb. 17 at the Willard Hotel. It cost almost $35,000, or about $70 per person in attendance.
"I ran the campaign, and basically had no clue what I was talking about," McGill said. "I thought [Founder's Day] was too much money to spend, and I still think it's a lot of money, but people wanted the event."
McGill's change of heart on the Founder's Day Ball, which ended up being one of the most successful SG events of the year, is one example of how some SG executives were unable to fulfill their campaign promises. While high interest in Founder's Day saved it from being cancelled, some of the executives' proposed ideas have proven to be nearly impossible to execute, while others have been modified to more realistic plans of action.
The major problem has been a lack of cooperation between the SG and the university offices that could work to make those changes, SG executives said.
"The executives did get a bit done this year, and we didn't squander tens of thousands of dollars on T-shirts," Peter Wahlberg, a member of the Undergraduate Senate, and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
SG President Ashley Mushnick promised during her campaign to make Microsoft Office free for all students, not just AU employees. However, with the position of Director of Information Technology currently unoccupied, Mushnick said there was nobody for her to even propose the idea to.
Mushnick was also working with Julie Weber, former director of the Office of Housing and Dining, on a way for students to manage their EagleBucks accounts over the Internet, an idea Weber said she put in her budget request. However, Weber left her position in early February and Mushnick said she has not heard anything since from Housing and Dining.
"We have incorporated the request into this year's budget request for approval by the university budget committee and the board of trustees," Chris Moody, interim director of Housing and Dining, said. "The upgrade cost is significant enough that it could not be purchased with the approved budgets between 2005-2007. We are proceeding with the budget request and will work with [the Office of Information Technology] on implementation once cost is approved and the new service is contracted."
While it has been a struggle for the SG to work within the university's infrastructure to make changes, the executives have had success fulfilling some of their other campaign promises.
During the campaign, Mushnick promised to expand the AU library's hours of operation. Mushnick discussed the issue with the library staff and executive board over the summer and fall. Her efforts have paid off. This semester the library changed its closing time on Thursday evenings from midnight to 2 a.m.
The library could be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week as early as next fall, Mushnick said. A possible plan has the Anderson Computing Complex closing at midnight, with the extra money being used to staff the library overnight.
The SG has also had success raising school spirit, especially in terms of the university's athletic teams. Both Mushnick and McGill campaigned on athletics, with McGill suggesting pre-game parties and Mushnick promising a big event at the beginning of the basketball season instead of at the end.
While neither of those suggestions came to fruition this year, the SG has helped to improve support for AU's athletic teams through its work with the Blue Crew and events such as the "Field Hockey Blowout" and "Phil Bender Day."
Mushnick met with last year's SG presidential runner-up and current SG presidential candidate Joseph Vidulich, who had been asked to take over the Screaming Eagles, a 26-member student organization that attended every men's basketball home game. Both agreed that the Screaming Eagles weren't the answer to the school spirit problem.
"Ashley had the great idea of starting the Screaming Eagles over with more support from the athletics department," said Vidulich, who served as SG secretary during the 2005-'06 school year. "I used the relationships that I had already established with athletics to get them more involved."
Under the leadership of Vidulich and McGill, who also serves as vice president of what is now called the Blue Crew, the organization registered over 1,000 members in its first year while holding events at field hockey games, wrestling meets and basketball games.
The Blue Crew also helped set the Bender Arena attendance record on "Phil Bender Day" with a crowd of 4,775 on Jan. 20. Attendance was less but still strong at Friday's nationally televised "Re-Phil Bender" game.
While the athletics department contributes most of the Blue Crew's budget, McGill has used the SG's publicizing abilities to help increase interest in the organization, as well as facilitate many of the larger events.
"Instead of just hoping things would improve, we made a real effort to increase school spirit toward the athletic teams," McGill said. "You've seen the increase in attendance."
SG Secretary Carrie Johnson also had success this year improving the communication between the SG and students, which was a major priority for all of the SG executives.
The SG now has its own public relations team, which helps to craft and publicize messages more effectively to students. Johnson has also overseen an overhaul of the SG's e-mail system, which has allowed the executives to get their message out in a more professional manner.
"It was a little expensive, but in the end I think it is part of what got better results this year in getting out message out and people involved," Johnson said.
Earlier this week, the SG launched the SG Action Center Web site, a portal for students to give their feedback on issues around campus. The feedback portal was in reaction to the recent change in dorm showerheads that angered many campus residents, The Eagle previously reported.
Additionally, the SG is overhauling the back end of its Web site, and is working on adding the "club portal" that Mushnick promised during her campaign.
"The secret to the success of a student government is communication," Mushnick said. "Every year the SG does good things, but the problem is that students don't really know what the Student Government does."
One thing the executives realized upon entering office is the difficulty of making such drastic changes in only one year. Mushnick said she hopes her administration has paved the road for bigger changes in future years.
"I think we're a stepping stone to what's going to be an even bigger and better Student Government next year," Mushnick said.
"We weren't really trying to throw new events out there this year, but build upon what we had," McGill said. "There are so many events on this campus, we needed to make sure we did a good job on the ones we actually did."
While some of the candidates' campaign promises failed to be realized, even the most pronounced failed campaign promise ended up being a positive for the SG. This year's Founder's Day Ball was one of the most heavily attended, with all 500 tickets sold out days before the event. It is considered one of the SG's most successful events this year.
"We had to turn away a lot of people," McGill said. "I didn't even bring a date because I couldn't get her a ticket."
While the SG executives have spent the year trying to fulfill their campaign promises, a few of their former opponents have found other ways to serve the campus community.
David Teslicko Teslicko, who ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign for comptroller, stayed on as the head of AUTO, a branch of the SG that provides low-cost transportation services for AU's various organizations. He is now running for comptroller once again, this time officially and uncontested.
AUTO was criticized last year for inefficiency, but Teslicko has worked to improve the communication between AUTO and the students, and is on call 24 hours a day to deal with any problems.
"Dave has done a good job," SG Comptroller Rob Donigian said. "We even made a profit last semester."
Teslicko is also attempting to expand the services that AUTO provides, looking into the possibility of buying an off-campus storage space and renting it out to students as a low-cost alternative to the high prices that the UPS Store charges for summer storage.
Joe Vidulich After finishing second in the presidential race, Vidulich was asked to take over the Screaming Eagles and worked with the SG to reform that group into the Blue Crew. Vidulich, also the Chair of the Judicial Board and a member of the JAMS Conduct Council, is now running for SG president. "All of this basically came about because of my loss," Vidulich said. "It really opened doors for me."
David Gates Gates, who opposed Carrie Johnson for the secretary position, was a member of the KPU staff throughout the fall semester.
