RHSA Endorsements

Good Morning all!

So, after the RHSA/IFC/Panhel forum, I sent an email to Almeera Anwar, the President of the Residence Hall Student Association, to ask if RHSA would be endorsing anyone, and when their endorsements would be public. Almeera got back to me with both a list of their endorsements and a statement about how their committee came to their decisions. Read below:

Endorsements:

President: No Recommendation

Vice President: Shauna Stadnik

Director of Community Relations: Tunny Vann

Director of Diversity Efforts: Ben Lealofi

Director of FAA: Jedediah “Jed” Bradley

Director of Operations: Sarah Round

Director of Organizational Relations: Nick Booher

Director of Programming: Sam Weinstein

(we definitely mixed up the tickets – we believe in endorsing individually)

This year, a committee of individuals decided who currently serve as RHSA reps decided who would be endorsed. The only information used in this decision process was the candidate’s platforms, their experience and qualifications (as listed in their application), and what was said at the RHSA/IFC/Panhellenic Forum on Tuesday, May 4^th. All other outside information is not included in the decision process because we look at that as a slippery slope and feel that people should be held accountable to their words to our constituents at the forum and what they plan on doing, as noted in their platform. We always deliberate immediately following the forum so in this case, we started at 10:00 pm on Tuesday and went until 3:30 am the following morning. We really work to make sure we remain neutral in the process and that we make an educated decision.

The primary things we looked at when endorsing were how well they answered our question to them, the messages in their platforms, whether they will engage and support the residence hall community and finally whether we believe they are the best candidate for the job. The residence hall component and actually answering our question were weighted the heaviest.

I served as the non-voting Chair of this committee and took pro/con as well as statements of why we chose to or chose not to endorse for all positions and candidates. However, this information is not public and was available to general council yesterday but was re-sealed as of 7:00 pm last night and therefore is no longer available to anyone.

Almeera was the MC of the forum as well, and has graciously volunteered to take any questions you might have. You can email her at rhsapres@hfs.washington.edu or leave your comments/questions here and I'll relay them to her.

Now, my thoughts on these endorsements...

I am surprised that there was not a Presidential endorsement. There are five strong candidates, who bring distinctly different views to the table, and it seems like this is a time RHSA would want to endorse one over the others to help their membership decide whom to vote for.

Shauna receiving the VP endorsement is not a surprise. She performed very well at the forum, giving detailed, well thought out answers. The same for Tunny in CR.

Jed and Sarah are running unopposed, but did still answer the RHSA question and submit a platform, so I am glad to see the RHSA did endorse them.

Ben Lealofi, Nick Booher, and Sam Weinstein all come from the Team Legacy Ticket, and all received the RHSA nod for Diversity Efforts, Organizational Relations, and Programming. I am impressed that Legacy secured three endorsements. I can definitely understand why Nick got the nod, when compared with his opponents, and Sam might have had some home field advantage, but I doubt that was the bulk of why she received the endorsement. Sam had good, solid answers and addressed them well to the Residence Halls. It makes sense for them to endorse her.

I'm going to do some digging, see if I can find the minutes from the RHSA meeting, talk with anyone who was there, and see if there's more to the story than just these endorsements.