The two leading undergraduate student government slates will
have new company this year at the upcoming spring elections. Headed
by Andrew LaFlamme, the Undergraduate Students Association
Council’s current financial supports commissioner, a new
slate called United Independents was recently formed and will
compete for positions in the 2003 USAC elections. Members of United
Independents will compete with the two established slates on
council this year ““ Student Empowerment! and Students United
for Reform and Equality. Slates are coalitions formed by students
to increase their chances of winning elected seats. LaFlamme, who
plans to run as the presidential candidate for the U.I. slate, said
he had been thinking about forming a new slate for a while and
thought it would be the best direction for him to go. Candidates
are not official until candidate applications are turned in during
third week. LaFlamme separated with his former slate, S.U.R.E., at
the onset of the quarter, expressing his desire to be an
independent for the remainder of the year. LaFlamme said the slate
impeded his ability to adequately represent students. When he split
with the S.U.R.E. slate, LaFlamme had also said he ideally prefers
a council of independents. A week later, he formed a slate of his
own. This action could be seen as a contradiction, LaFlamme said,
but he added that such a council is not realistically possible at
this time. “Realistically, students are not going to be able
to elect all independents given the political climate,” he
said, referring to the two existing slates. LaFlamme said he will
try to take the steps to create a more independent council with his
slate by encouraging councilmembers to be more accountable to
students and not their slate. LaFlamme added his slate will also be
reaching out to all student groups. Members running under the U.I.
slate will focus on complete student representation ““ even
the students that did not support the slate, LaFlamme said. But
some S.U.R.E. councilmembers questioned LaFlamme’s intentions
in creating the U.I. slate. President David Dahle said it was his
opinion that LaFlamme formed a new slate after he did not receive
the S.U.R.E. nomination for the presidential candidate last
quarter. S.U.R.E gave the nomination instead to General
Representative Adam Harmetz. But LaFlamme argued that his decision
went beyond S.U.R.E.’s nomination. “It wasn’t a
question of who they chose but how they chose,” LaFlamme
said. Both the existing slates choose “token”
candidates that would bring in the most votes, LaFlamme said. But
his slate will choose candidates based solely on qualifications, he
said. “Instead of first focusing of gathering a constituency,
we want to concentrate on gathering qualified candidates,” he
said.

Tepid Reception Some councilmembers of the S.U.R.E slate said
they were disappointed by LaFlamme’s decision. “I was
shocked and disappointed especially since Andrew had declared
himself independent,” said General Representative Michelle
Styczynski. Some S.U.R.E. councilmembers said they were concerned
that the new slate might cause a spit their constituency. “It
certainly complicates things,” Harmetz said. “The votes
will be split. … It may hurt us,” he said. But most
S.U.R.E. councilmembers still remained confident of their chances.
“More students agree with (S.U.R.E.),” Harmetz said.
“We are still a strong slate.” Dahle agreed that a
split will not have adverse affects. “It will not hurt us.
… It will make us work harder,” Dahle said. Although they
said they would have preferred LaFlamme to remain on their slate,
most S.U.R.E. councilmembers wished LaFlamme luck in his run.
“He has been a great councilmember, … and I wish him the
best,” Dahle said.