IN NATIONAL politics, it is customary for the press to evaluate the president after his first 100 days in office to see where he has been effective and ineffective, and where challenges still remain.
This week will see Student Council President Daisy Lundy's 100th day in office since the beginning of the fall term, and I see no reason not to bring this tradition to the University. While coming in under unusual circumstances, Lundy has made good use of her first hundred days in office and has plenty of issues to act on in the coming term, but her success has been somewhat tarnished by her own personal actions.
To this point, the Lundy administration's greatest success has clearly been shepherding the elections reform proposals to ratification. The University Board of Elections was a needed step in the right direction of eliminating conflicts of interest and stabilizing elections procedures for the elected offices central to student self-governance. Lundy's administration did a good job at raising awareness about the proposals with Lawn tabling, e-mail messages and flyers, which led to the highest-ever voter turnout for a fall Student Council election since the switch to online voting. Perhaps more importantly, the passage of the referenda meant that the Board of Visitors wouldn't have to step in and change the rules, thus keeping most of the appearance that students govern themselves at the University.
Though less substantive, Student Council under Lundy assisted the revival of the dormant tradition of Homecomings, along with University Programs Council. While this author would have preferred action to revitalize the tradition of Easters instead (which, in this age of super-liability and litigiousness, is probably impossible), the event helped turn this year's homecoming game into a weekend event rather than just another football game by a slightly different name.
Lundy's first 100 days have not been without flaw or fault, however. The nadir of Lundy's term as president has not been anything done in a meeting, but rather something written on a blackboard. By trying to link Individual Rights Coalition President Anthony Dick with the nation's best-known hate-monger David Duke, Lundy acted inappropriately at best, shamefully at worst, and alienated those who might have otherwise supported her ideas on the initiative.
While she says that her actions were as "Daisy Lundy, the student" and not "Daisy Lundy, Student Council President," it is undeniable that, to the University community at-large, these two individuals are one and the same. Luckily for Lundy, as the idea of a diversity exercise has faded to the background, so have her actions towards its opposition. If Lundy chooses to run for re-election, this will certainly be something she will be forced to address.
Lundy has also had to struggle internally with Council representatives, even in naming her own officers. In September, she nominated David Wasserman to be her assistant chief of staff, a nomination that should have been routine. Instead, it was struck down. Similarly, her nomination of Matt Mariner, head of "The Mix" program, to her cabinet was also defeated. Since these votes, Lundy has consistently introduced new measures only if she has a co-sponsor. Whether true tension exists or not between Lundy and the general Council body, she clearly has not had a legislative blank check.
The rest of Lundy's term looks to be no less eventful. With the passage of a resolution to create an off-Grounds housing office, Lundy's administration will try to help ease the process of student leasing of properties from landlords who are, by and large, out to get everything they can and do as little as possible for students. While easier than attempting to push back lease signing dates for all leasing companies, this will still not be a simple task, as Council will have to convince landlords to voluntarily work with a new office that seemingly offers them no benefit over the status quo. Some incentive must be offered to students and landlords to make this new office better than its predecessor ten years ago.
Most promising is Lundy's effort to negotiate new printing and copying prices and fees with the University. Reducing prices, especially for printing, would be a much-praised move in lightening the cost of course materials, especially in the Toolkit-file-dependent College.
Diversity issues are still on the horizon for the rest of Lundy's term. With a report from the committee designated with creating a diversity program expected to deliver a report next term, the issue of mandatory diversity education will again come under fire, and it will be critical that Lundy learn from her statements and actions from the first round of what promises to be a long battle.
Lundy's first 100 days have been good, but not great. Achieving elections reform was a hurdle, but bigger problems lie on the horizon. If Lundy decides to run for re-election in February and is successful, her next hundred days will be a have her facing new and different obstacles.
(Jim Prosser's column appears Tuesdays in the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at jprosser@cavalierdaily.com)
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