At a time when the College is going through such tumultuous and turbulent changes, it is important that the student leadership and the students involved in decision making are aware of what exactly is in the best interests of the College and the students at this time. That should be their only consideration.
When Tom Leatherbee '01 offered Drew Pluhar '00 a position on the steering committee in exchange for Pluhar agreeing to withdraw from the race and endorse Leatherbee, he was forgetting what is truly important for the College and for the Assembly, especially now.
Although Leatherbee probably does honestly believe Pluhar would be a good addition to the committee, that clearly was not the only thing on his mind when he held the position out to Pluhar as a reward for helping Leatherbee win the race. He offered special treatment, and he did it to try to get himself elected.
The newly elected Assembly leadership is now deciding how to select the committee's student representatives and a campus-wide election is a strong possibility. Were Pluhar to have taken the deal and Leatherbee to have won, Leatherbee could not have even considered an election because he had already virtually assured Pluhar a seat.
Had Leatherbee been elected, could he have supported someone else for the committee spot if a better candidate surfaced? No, because doing so would be breaking his part of the deal he was hoping to make with Pluhar. With no process, no applications, no discussion and no vote, Leatherbee was ready to make one of the most important decisions the Assembly will have the chance to make in the upcoming year, and he was ready to do that because he wanted to get elected.
The focus of the Assembly members should not be on garnering personal power through quid pro quo deals. This is especially true with the selection of the members of the steering committee. The selection of these representatives should be done only with the greater good of the College in mind, not with expectations of personal benefit, and certainly not on any conditional basis.
The members of that steering committee will be expected to represent student interests and work for the good of the College. It is certainly not something to be tossed around as a card up the sleeve, or something to be traded about as a personal favor.
If Leatherbee is willing to push for someone even in part for his own personal benefit, he doesn't deserve a place in the student representative body. Put simply, members of the Assembly should work strictly for the betterment of the College, not for personal advancement. If Leatherbee has forgotten, or can't recognize that fact, he should step down from the SA.
