‘Flick’ed off

In Alexander Payne’s 1999 film Election, Omaha high schooler Tracy Flick will stop at nothing to get ahead. And getting ahead means winning, at nearly any cost, the student council election. She’s hyper-ambitious and eager to climb the next step on the career ladder. Her next step once becoming student council president is-surprise, surprise-attending Georgetown University.
In the movie’s closing moments, Tracy has settled into a Capitol Hill internship, comfortably chatting with her congressman before they step into a limousine together. But real-life Georgetown students who see Election will likely immediately identify one step of Tracy’s climb the movie omits: her first-year GUSA candidacy.
Tracy exhibits all the hallmarks of budding GUSA politicos. The nascent political career, the competitive spirit, the underhanded campaigning. Isn’t that what being a first-year GUSA assembly representative is all about? Is the image of “Flick-ism” accurate?
Not if you look at newly-elected assembly representative Dito Mas (CAS ‘07). For one thing, he’s not particularly politically ambitious-Mas is pre-med; he describes himself as a “science guy.” He held only “minor roles” in student government in high school in Miami.
Or maybe not-when I asked him again if he was into politics, he changed his answer slightly: “Well, actually, I am to be honest with you,” he said. “Politics is one of my passions.’
Budding politico or not, Mas showed a preternatural feel for the well-known failings of GUSA politics, talking frankly about the need for reform and how difficult that might be. “I was pretty shocked,” he said. “I thought the student government here would be more powerful.”
His platform hits many familiar bases-GUTS service, lockdown, College minors for MSB students. When I mentioned these were perennial issues, derailed consistently by apathy and momentum, he remained optimistic. “I think we’re willing to stick it out to the end,” he said.
Place your bets on first-year naivete, but let’s not count Mas another GUSA victim just yet.
At a glance, Vikram Agarwal (SFS ‘07) represents a more stereotypically “Flick-ish” vein: A native of Hopewell Valley, N.J., Agarwal played soccer and tennis in high school, and was heavily involved in student government, serving as both class and student body president. “My friends at home, they’re like, ‘you’re Mr. Student Government,’” he said. “It’s what I like to do.”
After a campaign which featured plenty of “Got Vik?” and “Absolut Vikram” novelty posters, Agarwal said he is settling in to do work, refusing to join any other organizations outside of GUSA. “If you are going to be a part of student government, you should devote all of your time to it,” he said.
Motivated as he is, Agarwal doesn’t see GUSA as a step in a political career. “I dealt with a lot of kids who ran for student government just to get into college,” he said. “I disagree with all that step-climbing.”
Instead, he focused on his platform. Like Mas, he mentioned GUTS, UIS and University Facilities. He pointed out that it’s the first-years, new to campus, who can more readily spot the flaws other students may have grown accustomed to.
Asked about the Tracy Flick stereotype, Agarwal didn’t deny his ambition at all: “People who are idealistic and ambitious are the people who will get things done.”