University of Virginia Library

Allen C. Freeman

Photo By Rick Smith

John Farrell

Allen C. Freeman

Why do I want to be a Student Council
officer?

I'll be honest. I don't really know. I don't
know because I recognize that politics is a
compromising and egotistical game. I also know
that to get things done, somebody must be a
politician. I however regret the notion that a
politician must make unending and unfulfillable
promises. Maybe the reason I want the position
is so that I can prove that politics need not be
corrupting: that I can keep my promises.

I believe a politician is one who is willing to
be informed and honest enough to change his
mind if the information contradicts his beliefs.
Also, a politician should explain,
unemotionally, how he reached his decisions.

Where do I stand on the "issues?" I've been
campaigning against the Code of Conduct
referendum. It is ill advised, poorly written and
damaging to the University. This is not to say
I'm against student self government, but for the
University living in a real world where idealism
must take a back seat to the political realities of
this state and this Board of Visitors.

The Jefferson Party platform does not list
those things everybody is always for:
humanizing the dorm, strengthening first year
committee, Alderman Council, etc. Our
platform seeks to point out the JP and VPP
differences on ROTC, the referendum and also
to include those things we consider new and
worthy of intensified study.

I'm not an expert on all things, but I do
have a desire to be informed, a halted for
political games, and a basic trust in people.
(How can anyone work with the administration
who has no trust in them? Scepticism, yes, but
coupled with trust.) I have a compulsion to see
things done.

It sounds egotistical and idealistic. It may
be. But I'll be honest. Politics involves people
and people deserve honesty.