Let’s be honest, The Daily Tar Heel’s editorial board doesn’t exactly have the best record for student body president endorsements. In recent years, despite the infallibility of the editorial board, each endorsed candidate somehow doesn’t make it into office. It’s like we hex them or something.
Some people may think that this qualifies the endorsements as wrong — they aren’t, it doesn’t work like that. But even if you subscribe to this manner of thinking, it would be hard to go “wrong” when picking a candidate to endorse this year.
This is my third year picking an SBP candidate to endorse, and it might the hardest. Not to diminish past candidates, but this year’s pool seems to not only be the most skilled, but also the most diverse.
This type of diversity has nothing to do with ethnicity — we’ve all read The New York Times article — but with the areas in which these candidates are more than competent.
Whether it be institutional reform, advocacy, education or technology, each candidate shows more than proficient knowledge and passion for some critical area.
And it would be tragic for this ingenuity to go to waste. All of the candidates have already left a mark on UNC, and that should not stop after Election Day. Just because three people will not be able to put SBP on their resume, does not mean they should be written off. Each one deserves the resources to continue their work.
Whoever wins on Tuesday should keep this in mind and work with the other candidates as much as possible over the next year.
Above all though, no matter whom we endorse. No matter who each individual votes for. No matter who wins. I am confident that UNC’s student government will be in good hands come next year.
