Last night's campaign kick-off event translated into direct visibility today, the first day of the campaign. From the online realm of Facebook, where numerous profile pictures changed to the maroon-and-tan campaign logo, to the real world, where shirts were stuck with lapel stickers and the paths around campus were dotted with campaign signs, one thing is for certain: ASG Campaign 2009 is underway!
Last night at the kickoff event and first staff meeting, I got to talk about the three things that we want to dominate this campaign:
Experience. Purpose. People.
To me, these are the most important parts of winning this election. Mattie and Andrew have experience in the Executive and Legislative branches of ASG, with a combined five years of hard work for our student government in their three years here. Mattie was the Secretary in the Executive branch last year, bracketed by terms as a Senator representing the College of Engineering, while Andrew currently serves as the Assistant Treasurer, following a term as a Senator representing the Walton College of Business.
Purpose may be the most important aspect of the campaign. The one guiding principle for the Bookhout-LeNarz ticket is maximizing representation and furthering shared governance through fulfilling the stated purposes of ASG. As I explained to the staff last night, to us, this means knowing the parts of the process past “step one.” This means being able to further communication with our administration in the shared governance process and implement policies that will directly contribute to making our campus a better place. Each of the planks of our platform carries this message forward and makes the first step towards achieving true shared governance with our administration.
Finally, this campaign is about people. We can't win this election by getting the votes of just the people that support us. We have to mobilize student populations that are generally not approached or engaged, and we have to do it in record numbers. We want an unprecedented level of participation, and we want to achieve this not through more money or better imagery, but through the overwhelming force of people talking to people. It's not just about who you know, or what organizations you are involved in, but how WE can improve our campus, provide the best experience for our constituents, and leave the University of Arkansas a better place, together.
And together, we're going to do it.
-Will
18 hours, 48 minutes into the campaign
9 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes left in the campaign
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