TR: Why are you running for SBT? And what direct experience, if any, do you feel you have for this position?
Elizabeth Stinson: I'm running for SBT because as a student working directly with the office I felt that there were major changes that could be made in order to help students and student organizations reach their greatest potential on campus. After being involved on campus I simply wanted to make a difference in how student government helped students and felt that this was the best way to do it.
As for direct experience with the SG treasurer's office, I am currently the Conference Services director for the Model United Nations debate team on campus. I've had to work directly with the treasurer's office regarding ModelUN trips which are subsidized 50% by SG. I've seen the inner workings of the treasurer's office from a student's point of view, and have learned quite a bit about what goes on to make the treasurer's office work.
TR: What are some issues that you feel are of particular importance to you? And what innovations, if any, do you have for the office of SBT?
Elizabeth Stinson: Streamlining of the process that students go through in order to use their budgeted money is a very important priority for me. Student groups on campus need to be able to access their funds quickly without all the messy useless red tape that they have to go through now. I want to make it easier for student groups to access and use their funds for what they want to do.I also want to make it where groups can use more of their budget for food expenses. If a group hosts a lot of events, or has a use for it, there is no need for them to be capped to the small amount that they are now in the amount of food they can buy. It's their money; let them use it in a way that's useful for them.
I want to make the processes more clear to students. Putting the information about SARs, various budget rules, etc. into a friendly format that students can read online would be a main point for me and be a big help for students. When I was working on travel for the Model United Nations team, I made a lot of trips to the treasurer?s office that could have been eliminated if I had a user friendly website with all of the codes and information in one place that was easy to read.
TR: In what ways, if any, does the PANTS Party differ from the Gator Party?
Elizabeth: This is an easy question. Pants differs from Gator in that we want to represent the entire student body and not just specific
interests placed on a platform. The Pants Party platform is student oriented and practical. A lot of our platform points are ideas that should have been put into action years ago. We want all students to have an active role in student government. We want an open administration that attempts to communicate with Students weekly not twice a year during the elections.
TR: To your knowledge, has the PANTS Party run a clean campaign up to this point and should your party ever consider carrying out ethically-questionable tactics, what would your response be? As the SBT candidate, how informed are you of campaign-related operations?
Elizabeth: Pants has run an extremely clean campaign. We feel that our campaign should be as clean and open as we want student government to be. All of our meetings are open to the public and anyone is welcome to attend. We even invited the Alligator to watch us as we picked our candidates. All our candidates have the opportunity to help out in the process of campaigning. If someone in the campaign has a good idea, we'll use it. Pants isn't about secrecy, we aren't about back-room deals or bar tabs at local bars. If the campaign considered dirty tactics, my answer would be no, but that's sort of like asking what I would do in the event of an alien invasion.
TR: Are the pants being displayed on these poles clean? There are growing concerns that your party has not done the laundry.
Elizabeth: We use a ton of Febreeze.
TR: What are you feelings on CLAS cuts and the growing concerns that some of UF's best professors are in fact on their way out? Do you feel that there is any way SG can have an impact on this realm of campus policy or do you think SG's critics use to SG's detriment since student officials are virtually powerless on the matter?
Elizabeth Stinson Student Government can be a very powerful lobbying tool to tell the faculty what the students want. We will do what we can to express to the administration that the students are unhappy with the proposed cutting of the CLAS budget. We understand that CLAS is vital to the majority of students on campus and we are upset over the unfair cutting of the CLAS budget. This is going to adversely affect UF's reputation and the quality of the education that UF provides to its students. We will do everything in our power to let the administration know that we are unhappy with their policies regarding class.
TR: Tell us about your presidential candidate, what qualities do you believe he possesses (aside from his cabinet directorship) that truly make him a better choice to lead students than GATOR Presidential candidate Ryan Moseley?
Elizabeth Stinson: Bruce is one of the most dedicated and creative student leaders on campus. He's got the drive to turn student government into something much greater than it is now. His ideas and enthusiasm for student government are unmatched by pretty much anyone here at UF. He started Pants on his own as a true indie party on campus and has taken that idea from last semester and turned it into a party with great ideas for the campus as a whole. Starting a movement on your own is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and Bruce has managed to do it with flying colors. Hopefully the student body will help bring Bruce's idea of a student oriented student government to fruition.
TR: Any parting words?
Elizabeth Stinson: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed on your blog. It was a lot of fun to answer your questions. I'm really excited about the elections this year and am glad that I got to answer some questions for your readers.
54 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of creating a more user-friendly website describing the budget process.
However, there is no way Stinson is even remotely qualified for the position of SBT.
Also, allowing student groups to spend as much as they want on food is ridiculous. Implement that precedent, and you will see groups throwing money away on food without adequate advertising for events. I doubt that groups would provide the same benifit to the students through honorariums and programming if the 8% cap were raised or removed altogether.
Also, in regards to: "Pants isn't about secrecy, we aren't about back-room deals or bar tabs at local bars."
- This line obviously implies percieved actions by the Gator Party and its leadership. The fact that Stinson makes this insinuation and talks about a "clean campaign" in the same breath is laughable.
Anndddddd done.
qualifications for sg office are silly, its sg!!!
I wouldn't make too big a deal of it.
Qualifications mean alot when you are trying to lead and manage an organization with hundreds of people involved.
Especially with Treasurer. She is unqualified, not only in the sense of the position but also as a leader when compared to EJ.
She will get paid what like 8,000 student dollars to do the job?
She better damn well be qualified.
No wait... I like this better. Pants should walk around with signs "We're not qualified.... but who cares its SG!"
How would you suggest we pick? By who promises to try the hardest?
Increasing the budget on food is absolutely ridiculous and a blatant play for small organizations who don't understand the budgeting or programming process and think free food will bring people to meetings.
At least change your posting style when you do repeat posts.
Now 12:07: Learn how to read. She did not say do away with the cap she said raise the cap. Stinson is from Tallahassee and she might not have been attacking Gator so much as attacking a staw-man corrupt campaign. Read the history of Florida politics. Unlike you she isn't new to politics. Play high and mighty in the press not in a blog that only insiders read.
If you cared about qualifications you would have voted for Susan not Ryan.
I guess JCB has this one wrapped up got The Gator Party. Sorry Bruce. It's not like his Senate resignation was suspicious at all...
I did vote for Susan FYI.
But I guess I'm one of those obnoxious sell-out indies who votes for the best person for the job.
Anon 1:55-
I am Anon 12:07, and I did NOT repeat a post. I was blissfully alseep by 1:26 last night, which I'm assuming is the 2nd post you think is me.
It is possible that someone else thinks changing the food cap is ridiculous, no?
Accessing funds without the messy useless red tape:
The bureaucracy is there for a reason: to make sure that you have funds, and the several members of the SG Finance Office make sure that you don't overspend, which is a violation of the 800 codes, and elicits a response from the treasurer's office, and the Senate's rules and ethics committee.
i.e. the CaribSA investigation under Treas. Cosimi and Jamie Wathen's R&E committee, which resulted in legislation freezing some of CaribSA's A&S funds back into reserves.
I think it would be interesting to evaluate organizations' programming, and for those organizations who do most on-campus programming, give them a sliding cap on food between 8-10%. I.e. an organization that spends 97% of its budget on travel should not have the benefit of raised food percentages (because it doesn't use them anyways).
I have not seen the new Docutraq, but I am not sure how finely it forces users to label their events, and if it gathers statistics on the sorts of programming put up by the student orgs. If it did, then its data could be used to justify a change in the food cap, or to set up new rules to make the money more flexible.
We should all stop for a second and be thankful that we are Florida Gators and we go to a school where there are no major issues facing the student body. People can run on things like the food budget and the budget process and still be a viable candidate.
So what SG Finance experience does E.J. have that Stinson lacks? I place her working with SBT with MUN on the same level as E.J. approving SARs (although i think that is being kind to E.J.).
Auditor doesn't count... it only shows you don't know IRHA.
As SBT everything you do is so complicated... Thank God the school requires more than a 4 year degree to hold the position. Oh wait....
Damn, I forgot... She doesn't have a penis so she can't learn.
This is the 21st century!
Lets review history: Lindsay Cosim was "qualified" and craptastic. Dennis was not qualified and fantastic. It doesn't take a genus nor an advanced degree to be SBT.
"However, there is no way Stinson is even remotely qualified for the position of SBT"
She has more experience dealing with SG finance than EJ. The IRHA auditor does nothing with SG money.
Auditor doesn't work with SG Finance is a correct statement, unfortunately those people fail ro realize that the IRHA Auditor works with the Housing Office on financial matters, while not exactly the same it requires the same skills
As for E.J.'s role as IRHA President, he has sat in on every budget hearing that IRHA has gone through since the spring of his semester year, he knows what organizations go through.
As President, he still needs to have knowledge of every position (including the IRHA Business Manager who handles SG Financial Matters).
He approves the SARs, he approves the IRHA/SG Budget for submittal to SG, but of course he has no clue how SG finances. He hasn't dealt with the same people for the past 3 years and knows what is possible with SG money and what is not.
But go ahead and continue to say E.J. has no qualifications for the position.
*one edit....
should have said spring of his freshman year. My apologies.
Has anyone here seen E.J.'s resume? Check out the Gator Party Web site. It's sick how qualified that man is.
Continued from above: Also, if Stinson is going to continue to tryy and claim that she's qualified, Pants should at least get her resume and bio up on the website sometime before the election.
Whoa. The Alligator's comment section was like a toolbox. Disingenuous letters (I'm looking at you Aimee and Cruts) with a total disregard for copyright law (Aimee), ignoring the facts of the complaint (Cruts), and conveniently ignoring the Gator Nights issue (Lacey). All in all, Lacey had the best letter. Her letter wasn't dripping of opportunism.
Hey Will, write a letter in response then. Oh wait, Alligator is sick of your letters. Oh well, go with an alias, maybe a fake alumnus.
Oh will did we hurt your feelings by calling you out on your BS?
So Will you have no problems with Bradley Weghorst who rips Pants' Platform a new one then?
Didn't think so.
So its okay when you say things Gator doesn't like... but when the table is turned you're going to cry about it? The fact of the matter is Pants has used more two-faced and incindiary language in false allegations than Gator has used on any issue.
For all these claims of intimidation the only intimidation that has occured is Pants trying to intimidate voters with non-existant claims of foul play.
Copyright Law? Are you talking about course packs on WebCT? Something Ryan's been working on for a year already has numbers on and is already an on-going project to try and help students? Too bad that issues already been settled.
Gator Nights? This thing has run its course, its against Reitz Union rules and was not committed maliciously, as the advisor herself says its not enough to punish the Gator organization as the rules aren't even published you know... ANYWHERE ACCESSIBLE, nor is it against election codes.
And finally: the facts of the complaint are NO INTIMIDATION occurred, you can interpret these isolated screen shots anywhich way you want but as the Election Commission will also find no intimidation occurred and Pants truly is just grasping in the dark at their last threads of hope.
2:51: No, I give your leadership a lot of credit for how artfully it was done. It was fantastic. I am amused you couldn't get a real student to publish it through.
2:57: Yes, I mean copyright law.
Hey, Manderville, did you know the word "Gullable" isn't in the dictionary? If you actually believe that parking lot cameras are a good idea, maybe I can sell you some beach front property in Tennessee.
oops, Gullible, but you get my point.
Hey, Will Foster, start writing those letters. Maybe someday you can be like your hero Grapski and get tasered at city council meetings.
Well as long as we're attacking platforms....
2) Honesty - Yeah right! This has to be the most laughable part of the whole thing.
Oppose minus grades - Yeah latch onto other people's work.
Weekly Meetings with Machen - I LoL at this EVER happening.
Create Reverse RTS routes - What brain trust througt this up?
Free Water in the Reitz Union - Seriously? Isn't sustainability on this same platform? This is ridiculous
Graduate Student Travel Grants - Stealing other people's work again.
Add additional snap Van - Creative, and never been done not even in recent... oh damn
Double Student Organization Food Budget Cap - Speaks to the heart of how Pants does not understand SG at all
Support True Online Voting - Yup, you keep on supporting it! See where it gets you...
5000 Cap on Election Spending. - Yes limit free speech, how American of you.
Banquet (seek outside financing) - THey already do this...
Cut lobbying firms - Pants speaks over and over again to the power of our lobby and wants to fire our lobbyists... genius move.
Seek Ways to Decrease the Cost of Textbooks - Like maybe the actual IDEAS that Gator has as opposed to a fluffy we'd like to do this statement?
Endorse Student Run Homeless Shelter Referendum. - Bwahahhahahaha
You should quit telling your neighbor to mow his lawn when you have a frickin rain forest in your own.
Wish I had the time to go into the rest of them! Maybe later, toodles!
Hey, Will Foster, start writing those letters. Maybe someday you can be like your hero Grapski and get tasered at city council meetings.
Explain to me why Grapski is my hero?
Alrighty 4:01...
Oppose minus grades - Yeah latch onto other people's work.-
Pumpkin, guess who else's platform this is on? You guessed it- Gator! Has Gator done anything about it? No. And sorry, making a facebook group and whining at a Faculty senate meeting don't count.
Free water in the Reitz- If you really think that not charging 35 cents for a cup of water in the Reitz is going to decrease sustainability, you seriously have your head up your ass.
As far as decreasing prices for text books, that's through helping students find grants that are available from outside sources, endorsing the bill in the Florida legislature that would make text books tax free, that sort of thing, not something as pie in the sky as making all course packs free on line. Ever heard of copy right infringement? I guess not.
Graduate Student Travel Grants - has Gator/Swamp actually gotten off it's ass and done anything about this? No.
5000 Cap on Election Spending- they aren't limiting free speech, they're limiting Gator's bar tab at the Swamp and how much one little rich kid's daddy can donate so his kid can get on the senate slate.
Support True Online Voting - what's wrong in supporting something that works so well on other college campuses?? Oh ya, it scares the Pants off Gator (hehe, I crack myself up).
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Now for an examination of Gator's "platform" (if you can call it that)
Revive Chomp the Vote- hah hah hah. This was an appointed Gator position. They screwed it up during the 2006 elections, why should we trust them to "revive" it? And the only elections occurring this semester are county elections. Woohoo.
Parking lot cameras- good stuff. No one on campus but good ol Aimee Collins Manderville actually thinks this will be practical. Awesome.
And since when does Gator/Swamp party actually accomplish anything it promises anyway?
Ya, that's what I thought.
The new page is up. Enjoy
You guys on this blog are worse than the political staffers who post on the st pete times blog. Be nice to each other. Life on this earth is too short to be mean and petty with each other. Especially since you guys are still students. There are young people your age fighting, dying, and getting maimed in Iraq, and you all focus on such petty stuff. You guys gotta think of the bigger world around you.
Be nice to Aimee, i have met her several times, she is nice young woman. And be nice to Brian Aungst, he is a nice young man. You can disagree with how they do things or who they associate with, but don't attack them. I knew some really vile people at UF and i would never attack them in the manner some of you do on this blog.
Oh and System, FBK, and Greek people and supporters, you think your cute, that you all are above this and don't post on Christian's blog, you aren't fooling me. I am not at UF anymore and know you post on this blog some vile stuff also. You be nice too.
too bad Aimee is doing some of the attacking on this blog too...
Anon 4:30 -
No defense of Pants' Honesty?
I also like your tactic of admitting that I'm right, and then discounting it as irrelevant. Less intelligent readers of the blog might not catch you admitting than I'm absolutely right about the Pants platform.
JOHN BOYLES IS A PIECE OF SHIT!!!
You guys are arguing about the stupidest things. Who cares about platforms when we all know that Bruce eats little babies? Seriously, he's downed like 2 dozen of them.
Question for Bruce:
I am very new to this whole SG thing but... does it not seem like you are going to fail? You can't fill a slate, your platform apparently has many holes and you have no large voting block.
Why do you waste time/money on this?
If you give up on what you believe in and what is right without trying, you will never make a difference and the world will never become a better place.
I can't say for certain that the voters will come out in droves for us, but we have just as good a shot as any.
The better question is why so many would support Gator and the way Student Government currently operates.
Oh wait... most people don't vote. :)
Bruce
6:42: i heat boyles
Anon 7:27,
I thought that same way when I was backed by the system, watching the independent party struggle.
Sometimes you just have to stand up for things that are important. Giving the voters a choice is something very important to me, and most people should understand that. It doesn't take a great imagination to see the perils that befall a complete one party system.
I will use my time and money, even when I have nothing at all to personally gain from this election, if only to stand up for what's right.
There's only so much dishonesty, secrecy, and malfeasance that one can overlook when blinded by the mentality of "it's not that bad" or "hey some of them are good people".
Hey Christian, I'm being niticky, but just curious - would you mind changing the link on the sidebar from "Swamp Party" to "Gator Party?" The two are most certainly NOT the same. Thanks.
Some of them are not good people. All of them are good people. The Gator Party is cleaner and more positive than any indie campaign I've ever been involved in.
And on that same note...how the heck is the "ACTIVE" Pants party any different from the "InACTIVE" Pants Party. Thats like highlighting the different between Impact Spring 05 and Impact Fall 05 just because of the addition of Progress.
And on another rant, there is no difference between Bruce's run in the fall or the spring. Bruce says that this time, his party is now "serious." Yeah, serious, his platform of "Do You Think SG Sucks" and the Turlington's display is the same shit he did this fall. Fine, its alternative campaigning, but it certainly not more serious than his miserable fall attempt
Bruce always has been and always will be a joke candidate.
Good. Let them keep campaigning the way they did last semester. When you mention the Pants Party to an average student, they ask, "Aren't they the joke party?"
And the great thing is, even if you tell them this to their faces, the Pants Party will keep doing the same thing it's been doing all along. The indies don't change.
Some indies do change, and support actual candidates who want to make a difference.
Some "indies" have irrational fears of leadership honoraries, black people, and real life.
Sound like anybody you know? He may just have a blog about SG...
Congrats on your generally unsubstantiated and borderline slanderous Alligator column today, Christian. I'm very, very surprised it actually got published.
And I meant "nitpicky" earlier. My typing skills are inversely proportional to the amount of time I've been awake.
One thing that I think needs some work on the Gator Platform is the cameras for the commuter lot. It sort of goes against the sustainable campus initiatives because power is going to be required for the cameras, plus communication infrastructure, plus a wireless laptop while you are driving to the spot that you just saw.
A simpler thing would be to make the commuter lots be gated; tie your decal to your Gator-1 card; and have the parking lot gate arm keep a counter of parked cars. If there are less cars than spots then there is an empty spot. If not, then don't even bother. These arms could have battery-powered sensors that could communicate on the wifi network (if it reaches the SW Rec Park & Ride or commuter lot).
And I bet student orgs inside the BEC or something would be willing to tackle the project for fun, let's say with a $2,500 request to Allocations.
I like stalking for parking spots more. And a gate will really slow things down.
How many people just park in the Union and pay? Raise your hands. I know I do. It's close to my classes and the third floor.
How often do you go to class? $5 a day? Too much even if I go 3 days a week.
It'd be pretty funny if I wake up one morning and see in the camera there is no spot left in the parking lot. What do I do? Not go to class? Is it excused?
I pay. I'm hella lazy.
Forget about campaigning, lets look at the facts about the Pants Party. The Pants Party claims to be representing “core values” like “honesty” and “representing student interests, Not SG’s”. (Although, I think “representing” has questionable validity as a core value). Just the other day, all four of the Pants Party’s claims of electoral misconduct were denied by the Supervisor of Elections, an independent governing body. How can they claim to be honest when making such outrageously false accusations? Something I think they do honestly believe, however, is that they somehow better represent the student body? WHAT!?! There is a gator giving the middle finger to everyone that visits their website, and they have a keg on their t-shirts. How is this furthering the Student Body’s image in places like Tallahassee or Washington D.C., never mind places right here on campus like Tigert Hall or that group of visiting interviewers from the company you are trying to get a job at. Why can’t everyone see the fraud that these people are perpetrating on the student body and the lack of class that they have?
Matt 3LS
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