Last week saw a latecomer to this year’s Grand Marshal race. Jodie Wright ’09 registered as a candidate on Thursday, only two days before the deadline set by the Rules and Elections Committee. She then proceeded to gather the 600 signatures necessary to appear on the ballot in under 48 hours—an impressive feat by most standards.
Wright has founded her campaign on the principle of participation. She stresses the idea that RPI students feel that the Senate is ineffective and disconnected from the student body, and looks to fix that through increased communication and a more transparent atmosphere. While gathering nominations, she noted the general lack of candidates for student government positions—especially for the office of Grand Marshal—and described that as a symptom of apathy.
In spite of her positive and upbeat attitude, Wright comes to the table rather underqualified. She has almost no experience in student government, and her leadership roles have largely been confined to her fraternity house. She entered the race without much knowledge of the recent Senate activities, and was—at least at first—unfamiliar with the details of the Union administrative structure. To be an effective student body president, Wright would need to have a substantial operational knowledge of the various branches of student government and their governing documents.
With that said, Wright’s tenacity and enthusiasm in soliciting nominations and getting her name out—including her timely response to The Poly’s request for a profile—stand as a credit to her passion and capacity to get things done. This should not be discounted, as book knowledge can be learned, but intangible personal qualities are harder to acquire.
In the end, however, Wright is simply too new a face on the elections scene to make any sort of well-informed judgment regarding her ability to lead the student body and bring the Senate to new levels of activity. We encourage all our readers to read all the candidates’ profiles, to attend the GM and PU debates today, and to reach out to all the individuals running for office. Most of all, vote in tomorrow’s election, because this is your chance to make your voice heard.
