With the revelation of an internal memo promoting manipulation,
dishonesty and division in preparation for the upcoming student
government elections, David Dahle has lost significant credibility
with his constituents. Whatever involvement he seeks to have in
this quarter’s elections, however informal, should be
seriously scrutinized and questioned by the Undergraduate Students
Association Council elections board.
As the USAC president, Dahle should be held up to high ethical
standards, more so than his peers on Council or other students on
campus. Dahle is the president of the undergraduate student body;
he represents tens of thousands of students to the administration,
other universities and the external world in general. In order for
Dahle to do so successfully, he must have the respect of the
student body. It is, however, quite difficult to respect someone
that does not respect others, especially when those
“others” are the students who elected him.
In his document, Dahle extols the need to manipulate others and
to not trust others unless they have demonstrated loyalty. He also
has a lengthy list of “friends” and
“enemies,” whose purpose is to guide prospective
S.U.R.E. candidates in their election outreach efforts. Adam
Harmetz, this year’s S.U.R.E. presidential candidate, has
publically disassociated himself with the memo. Hopefully, he has
done the same privately.
Last year, Dahle campaigned for office promising to represent
all students and to bridge division on Council through compromise.
True, having served on council for several months is bound to make
Dahle aware of several realities, chief among them the fact that
not everyone is willing to offer blind political support. To a
large extent, the groups Dahle listed as his “enemies”
““ including the African Student Union, the Muslim Student
Association, MEChA and Student Empowerment! ““ have often
vocally disagreed with his ideas and worked to prevent them from
coming to fruition.
But the elections coming up in a few weeks are not completely
about this year’s people or groups. They are about bringing
new faces and ideas into Council. They are about learning from this
year’s mistakes and conflict and trying form platforms that
aspire for resolution and more cooperation to benefit the student
body.
Dahle’s document does not allow for this possibility. It
does not even give the new USAC candidates the benefit of the doubt
““ that perhaps they will work and think hard enough to find a
way to make the elections about the issues, and Council about
serving students. It is absolutely disrespectful.
Past USAC presidents have engaged in the same type of
politicking that Dahle’s memo reveals he has done this year.
But Dahle asked to be elected so that he could change this ““
so that he could make USAC factions more cooperative with each
other in order to effect productive change. Now, Dahle has proven
that he is no better than his predecessors. Throughout the year he
has worked under the assumption that groups are polarized into
“friends” and “enemies.” Instead of trying
to resolve whatever conflict has spawned an adversarial
relationship with other groups, he has chosen to dismiss them
instead. Some of his “enemy” groups may be unwilling to
cooperate with him, but it’s his duty to constantly keep
trying until they do.
Dahle’s assertion that other slates keep similar
information is at best a strategy to draw attention away from his
own errors. That multiple wrongs don’t make a right is a
basic moral principle. And if someone is going to take the lead in
choosing “right,” it should be the president.
The reaction students should have to these revelations is not
surprise or anger, but profound disappointment. Students need to
keep these events in mind during elections and choose a president
we can be proud of, because as of now, we don’t have one.