Yesterday, we endorsed Anthony White '13 for president of the Undergraduate Council of Students due to his combination of extensive experience and an innovative platform. Today, we are pleased to endorse Brandon Tomasso '13 for vice president.
Tomasso was a member of UCS for two years before taking a hiatus this year, and his time off has given him an important outsider perspective on UCS's role in the undergraduate body. Tomasso does have strong stances on important issues - prioritizing financial aid "at all costs," as well as student group funding - but his creativity and passion are what impressed us most. He has proposed intriguing ways for UCS to solicit responses and conduct outreach, such as a more accessible polling device, and has offered a better sense of the flaws within UCS than his opponent.
But it is important to note that this was not an easy decision. We were also impressed with Tomasso's opponent, Michael Schneider '13, who has had extensive UCS experience as chair of the Campus Life Committee. Schneider has done good work during his UCS tenure, including co-authoring a housing statement that helped jumpstart large-scale renovations on campus. That said, we simply did not think that he matched Tomasso in enthusiasm or creativity. These are also the characteristics that we believe make Tomasso a more suitable vice president for White - both candidates advocated a grassroots approach to making changes, such as the Brown Band playing outside of University Hall or chalk campaigns on the sidewalk.
Zak Fischer '13 is running unopposed for Undergraduate Finance Board Chair, and though he does not have any competition from which we might otherwise choose, we still endorse him wholeheartedly.
Fischer has identified UFB's major challenge - that student groups need more funding. According to him, there are two ways to do this. One short-term fix is to increase the student activities fee, but this increases undergraduate tuition. The second is to lobby the administration to prioritize the Student Activities Endowment, a struggling fund that, if bolstered, would reduce tuition by roughly $200 per student and would successfully fund student groups.
Fischer understands that getting the administration to focus on the endowment is of the utmost importance. As such, he plans to run through the past half decade of budgets to make a convincing case to Brown officials. We are extremely pleased that Fischer - a licensed actuary - is taking a forceful and mathematical approach to the problem and that he recognizes that the endowment is vital for long-term success of student groups.
We should note that we are concerned about the long-term future of UFB. Fischer mentioned that the group is still undermanned, and through bureaucratic oversight - for which UFB should be held accountable - the group did not produce a viable candidate for vice-chair. Student activities are an incredibly important part of Brown, which the administration and alumni donors often do not notice. It is imperative that UFB work on recruitment and that interested students join the organization in the interest of the future of student groups.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
