When Ben Shaw (COL ‘08) and Matt Appenfeller (COL ‘08) won the Student Association executive election with 52 percent of the vote, former Student Association president Twister Murchison (SFS ‘08) said that Shaw and Appenfeller had a “mandate for action.” Shaw and Appenfeller’s ticket was the first in recent years to win a clear majority.
The mandate seems to have been put on hold, at least until next fall. Slowed by the excitement of the Final Four, the tedium of setting up a cabinet, and numerous meetings with University administrators, Shaw has not seen any of his campaign goals to completion yet. He characterized the work he has done this spring as groundwork for the fall.
“We’ve been improving infrastructure-wise,” he said.
Shedding the cabinet structure that Murchison left for him, Shaw has four people in his executive staff, a chief of staff and three others, and a relatively undefined staff.
“We’re going to get rid of weekly cabinet meetings. They’re not productive at all. We’re going to have a bunch of people who want to get stuff done. There’s not going to be a cabinet, per se. It’s going to be ad hoc; when the need arises a group will be formed to take care of that,” Jake Styacich (SFS ‘09), a member of Shaw’s executive staff and former SA presidential candidate, said.
Though no noticeable improvements have been made with wireless Internet access or meal plan changes, Murchison indicated that Shaw’s and Appenfeller’s progress is relatively par for the course.
“We made good progress on two of the three priorities within the first month of taking office, but also focused heavily on outreach and staffing,” Murchison wrote in an e-mail, reflecting on the beginning of his term.
“[Ben and Matt] are moving at a good speed. The term of office is longer than one may think; so you have to pace yourself so that you don’t burn out.”
Shaw said that he has been working with Interhall to deliver on one of his most prominent campaign pledges, getting free newspapers on campus for students.
“We’re dead-set on the newspapers. This time next year every Georgetown student should have access,” he said. Next fall, Shaw said that he hopes the University will have a USA Today Collegiate Readership Program, which would, in partnership with the University, provide students three options for daily newspapers: typically, USA Today, a local paper, and a regional paper.
Shaw has spent time attending club meetings, meeting with administrators—he will meet with President John DeGoia on May 1 —and answering e-mails. In addition to a newspaper program, extending the Add/Drop period is on Shaw’s immediate agenda.
“I’ve talked to several assistant deans about it and they all agree that [Add/Drop] is a problem and that there is progress to be made. I plan on meeting with the Registrar soon to talk about it,” Shaw wrote in an e-mail.
Compared to the face-time Shaw and Appenfeller had during the campaign with their “Vote in a Box” YouTube video, students say they haven’t heard anything about them since.
“I think you would call them, how do I put this, full of shit on how they conduct the campaigns,” Spencer Walsh (COL ‘09) said, explaining that no SA President would be able to achieve the campaign objectives he hears of now.
Both Walsh and his roommate, Paul Cohen (COL ‘09), who voted for Staycich and John Dougherty (SFS ’09) because they were friends, said they hadn’t heard of anything that Shaw has done this semester, nor do they expect anything to be accomplished next year.
“The biggest role they can play is a voice [for the students],” Cohen said, adding that while he didn’t notice the GUTS bus expansion that Murchison implemented November 2006, he did think the former president did a good job advocating for the students with the keg ban.
Walsh was less forgiving in his evaluation of the Student Association.
“Realistically everyone knows they’re not going to do anything,” he said. “I don’t think they’re unmotivated. But what can you do? It’s the administrators who make the decisions.”
