Runoff set for Thursday in race for student rep. to Board of Visitors
Posted on April 7, 2008
Despite months of campaigning, followed by an indecisive election week, junior Marley Green maintains he’s still just having fun.
Green was one of two candidates for the student representative to the Board of Visitors, along with junior Fred Rose, to score just enough votes to qualify for a runoff on Thursday.
“It’s cool to be out to talk with people,” Green said Saturday. “And I really like walking around and having conversations with people about what’s important to them and what I’m about.”
Rose, a senator for the College of Arts and Letters, was excited that the race for SRBOV gave him the ability to stay in “campaign mode.”
“Now that [students] have another choice…they have an opportunity to pick the right person for the job,” Rose said.
With four original candidates, including juniors Stephany Herzog and Alex Plunkett, one person winning a majority vote was unlikely.
Green led the race with 30.93 percent of the votes and Rose finished second with 28.71 percent. Only the top two qualify for the runoff in this scenario and the winner is determined by plurality.
“I think you can look at where each of us is coming from as far as involvement [with the school] and see what the Board of Visitors is really about,” Green said.
The mission statement of the board on the JMU Web site is concise: “We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.”
While the BOV has more direct responsibilities, the vague description allows for the student representative to be a liaison between his or her peers and the board, although the student does not get a vote.
The two candidates are vying to be the successor to two-year representative Stacy Fuller who will graduate this May. Fuller drew the ire of some candidates after a guest column she wrote in The Breeze on March 31, stating, “none of the candidates have a realistic platform.”
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Rose said. “I can’t comment on why or why she did not say certain things, but it is her opinion which is great because having an opinion is what this position is all about.”
Rose is hoping to work with the BOV to improve various aspects within JMU transportation, dining services, academics and student life. A main point of emphasis within his platform is the creation of a Madison Advantage Plan, which would give students guest punches on their meal plans.
As an outspoken member of EARTH and Clean Energy Coalition, Green is more focused on making progress on environmental issues and energy sustainability. The Hamilton, Va. native was a proponent for the Green Fund, a program proposed last year to improve energy use through renewable sources.
Both candidates agreed that with ongoing litigation from the Title IX sports cuts, the BOV should be looking for ways to better communicate student athletes to find more amiable solutions.
“I think Stacy doesn’t think what we’re pushing for is realistic because she’s tried and failed on a couple of her positions on the board,” Green said. “I think she probably thinks my position on the sports stuff is unrealistic because she was there, she was in the center of the storm and failed to make things happen.”
Fuller thinks that time management is a crucial part of the job and something that makes a strong platform hard to carry out.
“My first year I wanted to do a Smile JMU thing and it didn’t go forward because I was swamped with the Title IX stuff,” Fuller said. “Some of the other platform points had to take a backseat.”
Voting will coincide with the class council and academic senate elections Thursday. To learn more, visit sga.jmu.edu.
