Presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2011-12 Associated Students of Linfield College were announced Feb. 21, but one candidate has already withdrawn from the race. Vice presidential candidate junior Sean Boedeker decided to withdraw from the election because of an extensive academic course load.
Boedeker recently decided to change to an independent major, which requires much ardor to organize.
“I underestimated my class load, and I didn’t want to take on more than I could handle,” Boedeker said. “I know Bradley [Keliinoi] will do a good job.”
The three remaining candidates are vice presidential candidate junior Bradley Keliinoi and presidential candidates juniors Rachel Coffey and Katie Patterson.
Each candidate has established platform goals for his or her position.
• Candidate Coffey wants to increase communication between administration, students and faculty to aid in situations similar to the diploma debate. She also wants to improve ASLC publicity. One way Coffey plans to do this is by having a Cabinet report sent out once a month, possibly in the Wildcat Weekly e-mail. She also wants to revisit the idea of revamping the Fred Meyer Lounge, an idea that was proposed a few years ago.
“I feel like I’m a pretty well-rounded student and that I’m not pegged in a certain area around campus,” Coffey said. “I’m a team player and an approachable person, and students should be able to come to me with any concerns.”
• Presidential candidate Patterson, currently vice president of ASLC, plans to advocate for students and non-student groups by being involved on various committees, such as the budget committee. She wants to focus on areas such as spending student body fees more effectively, representing the student voice and improving publicity tactics.
“I considered not running, but this is such an interest of mine, and it feels like my responsibility to help try to better the student interest, which I enjoy doing,” she said.
Patterson became involved with ASLC after checking out its website; it sparked her interest to run for vice president in 2010.
“Thankfully, it worked out for me,” she said. “I feel like there should be an extra element of stress, but there’s not because I know what to expect.”
• Vice presidential candidate Keliinoi said he wants the opportunity to be the person who implements the changes that students suggest.
“I have filled various leadership roles on campus, and I feel I have demonstrated my ability to help students,” he said.
Keliinoi said he would try to improve Senate representation since some constituent students are not equally represented. He also wants to improve Senate communication by sending one Senate report to the entire campus. Encouraging senator and constituent interaction and beginning the process of creating a student union are other goals of Keliinoi’s. He also hopes to increase ASLC’s accessibility and visibility by holding some office hours in Dillin Hall where he can interact with students.
“I wanted to run because I feel like I have the experience to do the job, and I have been involved in Senate since freshman year,” Keliinoi said. “It’s the next step, and I want to encourage people to become leaders.”
• ASLC President senior Colin Jones said that he was happy with all of the candidates, especially since they all have experience with senate and working closely with the ASLC cabinet. He also said that no one is unqualified for the positions that he or she is running for.
“The president needs to represent all students equally, which is really hard to do and really important,” Jones said. “The president needs to be calm and diplomatic but stand up for students even to administration.”
Jones said that good qualities of a vice president are strong public speaking and communication skills as well as the ability to encourage people to do the most and best that they can.
“I hope students take the time to learn about each candidate and vote intelligently,” Jones said.
Election debates will take place after Senate meetings on Feb. 28 and March 7 at about 7:30 p.m. The general election will take place online March 8.
For the full list of campaigning events, visit http://www.linfield.edu/aslc/elections.html.
Jessica Prokop/News editor
Jessica Prokop can be reached at [email protected].
