Simplicity and feasibility are the dominant themes of Lydia Kim’s goals, and this board is confident in her ability to accomplish all of her stated goals.
The primary function of the Internal Vice President’s office is to act as the intermediary between the undergraduate student government and the more than 800 student groups on campus. Kim shows an understanding of this, and most of her goals are focused on organizing and uniting the existing student groups.
Kim’s current experience in the IVP office has given her a head start in analyzing how tangible her goals are, given the context and resources available for the position, although most of the goals are to build upon already existing projects or events.
Her goals include aiding in the redesign of the Center for Student Programming Web site and creating a linking Web page that would act as a forum in which student groups could post information on past programs and experiences. These would not only be helpful resources, but accomplish the task of uniting student organizations.
Another way to maintain continuity and stability for the office is Kim’s plan to build off of the existing Leadership 101 project within USAC by implementing a campus-wide leadership network. Both the existing program and Kim’s proposal aim to provide group leaders with the opportunities to fine-tune management and leadership skills and to educate leaders on the resources available to them.
Kim’s desire to be transparent and inclusive is also a notable quality as she outlines her plans to ensure that the USAC Web site is regularly updated with meeting minutes and includes the posting of the council’s approval of bills and resolutions.
Kim’s weakness primarily lies in her apparent lack of knowledge about office space allocations. While Kim said she would like to maintain fairness in the space allocation process, the editorial board was concerned about her incomplete understanding of the needs that student groups may have.
Her opponent, Evan Shulman expressed interest in surveying the applicants to better gauge what their specific needs are because some may only need access to resources that may be housed in common areas to be shared by multiple student groups, rather than in their own office.
Shulman’s ideas paralleled Kim’s in the areas of outreach and accessibility to student groups, but his proposal to spearhead efforts to build “green affordable housing” off campus stood out as an intangible goal given the resources available and the restrictions within which his office has to work.
Another proposal Shulman expressed interest in pursuing is one that we appreciate, given it is directly centered around efforts to increase visibility and funding for Student Media, but a central weakness to his proposal is the lack of initiative taken to gather insight from those that would be directly affected. Not approaching key leaders of student media for input or insight about the feasibility of the idea is an obvious indication of Shulman’s inability to fully engage people that should be involved.
After weighing the feasibility of the candidates’ goals, Kim became the clear choice as the most qualified IVP candidate.