Kyle Duggan (Peter Caty/The Mirror)
Fairfield students got what they wanted. They wanted a heated debate. They wanted a contested election. And then they didn’t show up.
In a debate Tuesday night (or Monday in Fairfield time), Class of 2011 President Kyle Duggan squared off against Secretary of Student Life Eddie Muniz in a town hall style debate for FUSA President.
Charlie Knights, class of 2012 president, perhaps put it best when he stated the debate was attended by mainly FUSA people.
The one-sided audience, along with the fact that the current administration’s highly touted “marketing efforts” produced a lackluster crowd, has led The Mirror to endorse Kyle Duggan for FUSA President in next Tuesday’s election.
It is not that The Mirror thinks Muniz is not capable of the job, but the fact that Fairfield needs a change is far more apparent in this election. FUSA has contradicted itself into a corner.
It is also not that Muniz has not worked hard for FUSA. He has clearly done a lot in his time in the organization and deserves an important part in next year’s administration for that. He is the perfect person to work alongside Duggan in the executive cabinet to unite change with what has already been done in this administration.
As Duggan said during the debate, many of the people who showed up were not only FUSA members, but had also already made up their minds that Muniz is the right person for the job. From our point of view, the majority of University staff members have put their arms around Muniz. Whether he has earned their support or not, it is not only their FUSA.
With all the time spent reorganizing FUSA this year and last, it appears that the student body has been lost in the shuffle. As Muniz and others spend time in the office, training and developing the future of FUSA, they forget an important fact: FUSA belongs to the students.
Too much time spent looking inward will result in a lack of awareness of what is going on outside the FUSA cubicles.
As it was so eloquently put tonight, every student pays $95 and is therefore a member of FUSA. However if FUSA’s members were not allowed to ask questions, then the microphones set up for the debate would not be needed in the lower level of the campus center.
Many FUSA members, most notably, Secretary of Marketing and Communications Christine Ruane, stated that Duggan was unsuccessful in what he considers his strongest victory, the Half-Way There Cruise.
Frankly, we don’t care. The FUSA president has bigger fish to fry then those in the Hudson River.
Duggan worries that FUSA will become the “FUSA few.” The organization proved that tonight, through its members’ pointed questions and their constant reminders about initiatives that simply did not make a “Stag-hoof-print” on the Fairfield landscape.
Muniz, who joked about his nickname “Secretary of Transportation,” touted his ability to bring Connect-with-Hertz to campus. Many FUSA Execs have talked about this as their accomplishment. Meanwhile, the student population sits back wondering when the school will make a formal announcement as to whether sophomores will have cars on campus and trudges through the snow asking themselves when the campus shuttle will become an asset once again.
Duggan wants to raise the volume. He wants FUSA to make a stand. If elected he will be forced to work with all of the Muniz supporters within the “FUSA few.” But he will also have the opportunity to bring in many outsiders; perhaps more of those people paying $95 dollars a year to FUSA.
Duggan has a mission and a passion and is not afraid to face the incumbent FUSA members, nor will he be afraid to face the University. He is a person that can take the progress that Jeff Seiser made in the past two years along with the rest of his administration and move forward.
Muniz could continue to build FUSA from within and would likely do a good job continuing Seiser’s initiatives and those of the Senate, creating a voice within the Fairfield administration. But we feel Duggan can do more.
He wants to turn FUSA into a more legitimate student governing body. He wants it to be loud, exciting and accessible.
A change at the top and a deviation from the mean is always a positive thing in politics, even student politics. Now is the time for FUSA to change it up, for the better of the University, the student body and the organization itself.
We think Duggan is up for the challenge. And though Muniz might be FUSA’s guy, we think Kyle Duggan is Fairfield’s guy.
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