Phillips ?nds his way in grueling position

Sleep and Tylenol might be the saving graces for Andrew Phillips.

In his term, Phillips, chairman of the Board of Elections, has had to play the role of prosecutor, judge and now defendant.

Adding to what has already been a hectic campaign season, Phillips and the board are now dealing with two complaints against its confirmation rulings and another regarding a fine for student body president candidate Rick Ingram.

“Being sued in the Student Supreme Court is always an occupational hazard of being chair,” he said. “But I never expected to be sued three times in the same day.”

In addition, the board also held a hearing of its own to consider disqualifying Ingram on Feb. 7.

A two and a half-hour spectacle, the hearing featured a litany of allegations thrown between the candidates and their staff members. He said the board was creating its procedures on the spot at the hearing.

“I’m not a judge,” he said. “I’ve never worked for the attorney general staff. I have zero courtroom experience.”

And Phillips has no future plans of pursuing a career in law or politics. Instead, the philosophy major plans to go into seminary.

“I may be the oddest board of elections chair in a long time for any number of reasons,” he said.

Phillips will graduate this year and plans to join the Episcopal Service Corps, he said. He would work for a nonprofit organization during the week and serve at a local parish on the weekends.

He then wants to attend Duke Divinity School and become a hospital or college chaplain.

“I do feel a call to ordained ministry, which I think makes me a rare breed for people who hold this job,” he said.

Phillips added that there are similarities between his current job and his future career path.

“A lot of the job of being the BOE chair is dealing with people,” he said. “And being a member of the clergy or a pastor, most of the time, you talk to people and try to get them through the highs and lows of their lives.

“I think I can do some of that in this job.”

Stress, he said, will also be a part of his future job.

“Both jobs deal with stressful situations and things that are difficult to plan for,” he said. “There can be a lot of stuff going on at one time.”

And stress, for Phillips, began in late August.

Phillips applied for the job in March and was asked by members of the executive board in April if he would take the position.

“And in a moment of weakness, I said ‘yes,’” he said.

Phillips said he was told by then-speaker of Student Congress Deanna Santoro in August that a special election was needed almost immediately after the fall semester began because many seats in Student Congress were vacant.

But first, Phillips had to assemble his team, which turned out to be easier said than done.

“I was actually out of town during the external application process,” he said.

Phillips said he had to interview applicants, select the ones he wanted and give their names to Student Body President Hogan Medlin in one week — the one week he happened to be gone.

Phillips attended a conference in Chicago and interviewed applicants during breaks in a church and a ballroom.

“For three members of the BOE, I chose them unseen,” he said. “I never met them and talked to them on the phone for about 10 minutes each.”

The job hasn’t gotten any easier.

“There have been a couple of days where I get back to my room after I’ve gone to class and I’ll have a ridiculous amount of e-mails and a call sheet that’s 10 people long,” Phillips said.

“And through all this, I have to sleep and go to class sometime,” he added. “Some of those days do feel overwhelming.”

But Connor Brady, secretary of the board, said he is thankful for Phillips because he reminds the board that its job is important.

“(He) just keeps everything really meshed together,” Brady said.

Ryan Morgan, 2008-09 chairman of the board, said he is surprised Phillips hasn’t called him during this hectic time.

“Three is nothing,” he said. “I got sued seven times when I was BOE chairman.”

“I definitely understand (Phillips’) predicament,” he added. “It’s not rewarding at all and no matter what, someone’s going to be pissed off.

“It’s a no-win situation for the BOE chair.”

Phillips said he doesn’t regret taking the job, but he thinks that serious conversations need to be had about how campus elections are run.

“I went home to my dorm at one in the morning and was seriously contemplating whether or not anybody should be subjected to this job again,” he said. “I hadn’t slept. I felt better the next morning.”

“Quite frankly, I would like for this to be over,” Phillips added. “I’m very much looking forward to getting my life back.”

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