To the Editor:
Student Assembly President Danielle Moore '95 was elected by factionalism and died by factionalism.
Monday's news analysis ("Constitution created to tie a president's hand") placed blame on a grid-locked Student Assembly with campus conservatives, namely last year's Reform SA! block.
"Kept out of the presidency and vice-presidency for so long, it was only natural that the power structure was changed so the General Assembly can check the power of the Presidency," the article stated.
This was not the true cause of the Assembly grid-lock.
Moore ran her campaign using the resources of her campus background, namely campus feminists of color. When she was elected president she brought these same campaign workers with her to Assembly. An obvious hierarchy of power was formed within the Assembly, and at its head were the campus feminists.
Ultimately, others within the Assembly began to feel out of the loop of decision making. It quickly became apparent that the year's agenda would be dominated with items that focused on and benefited only a very small campus minority.
The year long symposium is illustrative of Moore's factional policies. Organized over the summer, and enabled by the controversial appointment of Grace Chionuma '96 as Summer term president, funding for the symposium was railroaded through with potential dialogue shortchanged and opponents caught off-guard.
This distribution of benefit to a narrow campus constituency was a focusing event for organization and energizing of opposition.
At this point, a coalition leader could have headed off a major division, but Moore, because of her perceived factionalism, was left without the resources. No member of the opposition was approachable since Moore had so obviously aligned and surrounded herself with a faction that could easily be indicted as having a clear and present agenda. Hostility was all that was left.
Jimmy Carter wasn't immune to the effects of factionalism, Bill Clinton sure isn't, and in the end, neither was Danielle Moore.
