Of the many candidates for Minnesota Student Association president and vice president, Mike May and Kevin Wendt stand out as being the best to lead MSA next school year. Their past and present relevant experiences and sound policy ideas speak highly of their potential to be effective leaders.
Both May and Wendt have significant experience in student government. They are active in MSA and the Residence Hall Association. In MSA, they serve on the Academics and Services Committee, where Chairman Scott LeBlanc describes them as hard workers.
One of their achievements was a position statement they co-authored on reforming University Dining Services that MSA passed unanimously last fall. Dining services reform, while not a glamorous issue, is a key area where MSA can affect thousands of students’ lives. If they can achieve their goal of ending UDS’ absurd policy of charging students for missed meals, this alone would make their administration a success.
The May/Wendt ticket has other solid policy ideas, including supporting an on-campus football stadium at a low cost to students and working for permanent funding of the late-night bus. The latter deserves considerable attention as part of campus safety – an area where May and Wendt have good ideas and May in particular has valuable experience.
Their other safety proposals include improving lighting and police protection in dangerous areas as well as more readily available self-defense classes. The one suggestion we propose is considering free taxi rides, a program used at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, either as a supplement to or instead of the late-night bus.
Campus safety is a complicated area of policy, because on one hand, cost-benefit calculations must be considered, but on the other, those calculations always seem foolish in the event of a tragedy. May’s experience creating and serving on the Residence Hall Association’s ad-hoc committee on safety and security make him well suited for this task.
The May/Wendt ticket’s sound ideas and valuable experience make them the best candidates in today’s campus-wide elections.
