The anticipation hung thick atop the Chateau in Dinkytown as Sarah Afshar and a small party of campaign supporters anxiously expected the Minnesota Student Association presidential election results.
Patiently, they gazed at the cityscape and waited for a phone call, wondering if Afshar would become the MSA executive officer or if weeks of campaigning with chicken-suit gimmicks and poll-side pizza giveaways were all for naught.
At 7:30 p.m., the phone rang. The results were in and Afshar and her running mate, Mike Franklin, endorsed by the Students Against Fees Excess, finished fourth. Afshar didn’t even ask who won.
“Well, I though we’d done a little better than that,” said Afshar, a junior in the Carlson School of Management and ROTC midshipman. “But there’s probably a good reason why we placed fourth.”
Had they won, Afshar and Franklin planned to make changes in MSA from within.
As part of a cabaret performance Tuesday, intended to drum up support for MSA and fight student apathy, Afshar rapped, “MSA’s got the ill communication … We gotta get together and see what’s happenin’.”
Despite Afshar’s call for MSA to check their heads, the University’s undergraduates chose Ben Bowman and Matt Clark’s platform, which is geared more toward student issues.
“We did what we could, but ultimately it was up to the students,” Afshar said. “Our message just didn’t get out to the students the way we would have liked it to.”
Afshar said she has no future plans for campus politics right now and just wants to get on with her life as a student.
“So, what’s next? I have a formal this weekend so tomorrow I’m going out to get a dress — and it’s going to be a good one,” said Afshar, a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.
Franklin was unable to attend the gathering because of class.