Grades ranged from a low of seven to a high of ten, and comments ranged from suggestions to increase order in meetings, to praising his ability to get down to business, to calling him “very enthusiastic and has great ideas, but seems to be stuck with unmotivated senators.”

Taking office late in the spring semester of 2001, Valadez set out to tackle on-campus parking woes, shuttle bus services, the annual five to six percent tuition increase, prestige pricing, and reports proving the usefulness of the Student Senate.

Valadez admits, “[Being elected] was very intimidating. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. There was a fear factor that I would not be successful … I still remember the first Senate meeting when I was stumbling over my words.”

President of the Union Ariana Twitchell cites his accomplishments as putting students at the forefront and consistently following through. She went on to say, “He brought credibility back to the Senate … changed the way the Senate works … and has done things students won’t know about.”

Valadez proved to be supportive and dedicated in the eyes of Union director Richard Hartt. He said being a staff member in the Union for 24 years now, he has gotten the chance to observe many GMs and he has noticed that they all tend to bring different things to the table, thus, they respond to issues differently.

He went on to say, “Gil did a really excellent job. Looking back at the whole group, he accomplished one of the most difficult things. He had a vision and got people to buy into it.”

Impressed with his own accomplishmentsover the past year, Valadez said, “There was no decline in my commitment [to the students].” Valadez feels that he originally set “realistic expectations” for himself, but does acknowledge that he had hoped to be where he is now at the end of the fall semester.

Critics of Valadez’s leadership skills, such as William Bobrowski, one of last year’s GM candidates said, “Other than the judiciary and student rights committees, I can’t think of a single thing that the [rest of the] Senate has done.”

Last year, upon receiving the news of his defeat, Bobrowski said, “I’m disappointed and I am very sorry for the student body. They have made the choice yet again … to choose the status quo, to choose the student government which will do nothing, which will go nowhere, which will accomplish nothing.”

Tuesday Bobrowski said, “I stand by that quote … nothing’s happened.” He concluded by saying, “I don’t think [Valadez has] been sending the message that students found policy changes [to be] unacceptable.”