In politics most elections come down to a voter’s choice between the lesser of two evils. Although many students may not know it, this year’s Fairfield University Student Association presidential race comes down to a choice between the greater of two goods.
On one hand, we have Vin Farisello, the maverick who came into FUSA one and a half years ago and has shook the organization since. On the other hand, there’s Karen Donoghue, the steadfast FUSA member entering the twilight of her third year.
Both candidates would make fine FUSA presidents.
Farisello may not have been involved with FUSA from his freshman year, but his accomplishments since his involvement have been swift and numerous. Farisello raised concerns about a new constitution that have proved themselves accurate. He is also responsible for the registration of 1,000 students last November to elect a fairer group of officials to the Fairfield Resident Town Meeting.
Donoghue is one of the first members of the Student Alumni Association, the organization responsible for planning and implementing Alumni Weekend (amongst other things). She is a lector, a mission volunteer and a BCC building manager.
In a perfect world, they would rule jointly. Yet, democracy does not allow the luxury of a dual executive.
Farisello’s campaign is focused on creating a students’ rights cabinet position, creating an open forum for students including a State of Fairfield Address, modifying the mandate for weekend programming to create better more efficient events and petitioning for a voting booth on campus to guarantee students’ voices will always be heard at the beach.
Donoghue’s platform focuses on Fairfield pride. She wants more incentives to attend sporting events, more communication among the FUSA Senate, class councils and the president with their constituents, as well as an academic liaison created to help students with advising, greater use of technology for polling and improved town relations.
Both have good ideas. Yet, when it comes time to flip the voting booth switch down, The Mirror endorses Farisello. A great deal of soul searching has been done concerning this election, and when a big theme of this year’s election is change, we strongly believe Farisello is the person to do it.
Overall, Farisello made it clear to The Mirror Editorial Board that he will never be afraid to take a stand on what he believes. His ideas are short and sweet, not broad political rhetoric. Sure, we can talk about improving town relations and apathy, but Farisello has defined ideas on how to do this. Pride, apathy, town relations, this is old to a FUSA election. Our current FUSA president ran on this last year. Our situation has not improved.
The Mirror believes that Farisello is the candidate to improve our current situation. Above all, is it not time we as students decided to shake up FUSA with a new type of candidate with concrete ideas? The Mirror can only hope students feel the same.
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