According to Steve Liguori ’09, when it comes to the student body’s presence on campus, it is not a question of whether the glass is half-empty or half-full, but how to fill the rest.
Liguori, a three-term FUSA senator, is considering running for FUSA president, as are Michael Fischetti ’10 and Spencer Thibodeau ’10.
“I have been a senator for three years now, and I have seen a lot of changes not for the better,” said Liguori. “I think that students need an advocate who will voice their opinions, and that’s why I want to run.”
Liguori said, as with the other possible candidates, that he would continue the progressive groundwork laid out by current FUSA President Hutch Williams ’08.
But for the time being, winning is the No. 1 priority.
Others exploring the candidacy, as well as FUSA insiders, agree that the key to a more productive and proactive FUSA is an abundance of candidates.
Liguori said he believes students suffered from having only one candidate last year.
Fischetti, another student contemplating a run, said he is emphatic about the crowded field.
“It will be a great election because it gives students a choice,” said Fischetti.
If Liguori, Fischetti and Thibodeau decide to officially declare their intentions to run, there will be a primary scheduled before the Feb. 26 general election.
Candidates cannot announce intentions to run until the election information meeting on Feb. 11.
Thibodeau said the two other candidates are great and encourages more students to consider candidacy.
“The more people who run, the more [policy] issues that are presented,” he said.
Liguori underscored the urgency of this critical election by saying, “This is a difficult time with all the changes that are going on, and it is up to us to stand up to the administration and tell them how we feel and what we think should be done at our school.”
Former FUSA president (1995-96) and current Vice President of Student Affairs Mark Reed said that FUSA has a great deal of communication with the administration.
“FUSA has a broad and significant interaction across campus,” said Reed, in reference to the committees with which administrators and faculty work closely.
“I always hope students will look for a president who has demonstrated sincere interest in being involved across campus previously in increasing capacities and leadership roles,” he said.
“The most successful FUSA presidents I have observed are naturally curious and want to learn more,” said Reed.
Thibodeau said, “FUSA should bridge between the student body and the administration.”
He said that FUSA must take a firm stance in making decisions based on students’ interest.
Reed said that in recent years there have been instances in which the FUSA president has been a junior, as the case would be if Fischetti or Thibodeau were to win.
The former student body representative also noted that, while both have done “an admirable job and accomplished several things they set out to do,” he believes that a senior would have more experience and a more informed perspective.
Williams, current FUSA president, started his first term during the end of his sophomore year.
“I have my goals derived from the student body, calculated from my efforts in talking to the students,” said Williams.
“I present the students’ needs from a different angle.”
“The FUSA president has a formidable task of seeing the big picture” in terms of current and long-standing FUSA activities, said Dean of Students Tom Pellegrino, who was FUSA president during the 1989-1990 school year.
“Perhaps the best advice I can give FUSA presidents is to ask lots of questions of a lot of different people,” said Pellegrino, adding that FUSA, in cooperation with other student body organizations, creates strength in numbers.
Senator Mike Meehan ’08, said, “At a certain point you value the help as a mentor that the administrators give, but the presumptions of students and administrators are always going to be different.”
Meehan added that the biggest hurdle of his four years of policy making has been the constant turnover of administrative officials.
Williams pointed to a similarity between him, Reed and Pellegrino.
“As ex-presidents the two of them understand the shoes that I am in. … That doesn’t always mean that I approve of their job, but they respect and understand me when I bring issues to the table.”
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