From the Inside

In 2004, the majority of Americans voted for President George W. Bush. Good job, America. You chose the president who created the biggest budget deficit in history, erred in education policy, threw the war on terror into tumult, and fumbled with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Hurricane Katrina.

Bottom line—popularity contests don’t yield the best leaders.

Every year, the Engineering Student Council is faced with the issue of having direct elections, as opposed to internal elections, for its executive board. Some of the claims as to why we should open these elections are completely reasonable. Others are not. “The people’s voice counts” is the constant refrain of those in favor of direct elections. It makes a good sound-bite, but the people’s voice is already all that counts.

Yes—the people’s votes count. That’s why engineers elect their class councils, representatives, and liaisons. Not a meeting goes by that the words “our constituency” are not uttered. The first thing that ESC is concerned with is effectively representing the voters. We also focus on making ESC as effective as it can be—an endeavor with which we have made very good progress.

Because we want to be effective for our constituency, we make sure that only the people who will do the work and will get the most done for our constituents are elected to your executive board. The ideas spouted by the opposition of “patronage” and “subverting the public” are patently false.

If the students do not like how their ESC representatives are voting for them, the voters can and should elect more effective members, as Columbia College students in the class of 2010 did last spring. SEAS voters are the first priority, and they have shown that they like the way that ESC serves them. Generally speaking, voters have to care and cannot be spontaneously and sporadically rallied by a smarmy, attractive, yet ineffectual candidate at the loss of the “nerdy, socially awkward” kid who will actually get things done. It is a fact that ESC gets the job done by making sure that kid gets to do his or her job.

The voters trust their representatives to the point that not even one third of voters expressed their opinion in a referendum on the issue two years ago. They knew that we do what is in their interest, and they didn’t want to change us. As a council, we have taken up virtually every cause that our engineering peers have asked for, from study abroad issues to expanding the Center for Career Education’s class offerings for non-technical requirements. We vote on those issues and we represent the student above our personal feelings at all times.

Generally, organizations know who the best people are within their ranks. Imagine if the College Democrats had elections open to the public. We would be the first to nominate Chris Kulawik for president, just for the hell of it. If Chris got all his right-wing friends to vote, he could actually win that election. And thus, the Democrats would suffer. That would probably be yet another reason for Barack Obama not to visit.

But to be honest, every year there are officials directly elected to ESC who don’t want to be there and are likely there for the résumé padding. Worse still, there are elected representatives who do not go to the meetings they are required to go to. In the end, the loser is the everyday engineer. Internal elections help ensure that the elected officials are the ones who will put the students before their future jobs.

But to be honest, even this year there were several officials directly elected to ESC who just don’t want to be there and are likely there for the résumé padding. Worse still, there are elected representatives who just plain do not go to the meetings they are required to go to. The loser in the end is the everyday engineer. Internal elections ensure that the people who represent the students the most are the ones who will put the students before their own future jobs.

Some engineers are better known than others. Some have more friends than others. And some of those know that they don’t do much on the council.

Most engineers don’t know the names Peter Valerias or Prish Dunstan, but both of them do incredible amounts of work for engineers behind the scenes. Peter spends tens of hours per week making sure students’ dorms, food, and facilities are working, and addressing any and all concerns students have. Prish makes sure that projects get done now rather than when you graduate, and actively connects students with the administration. He has led countless efforts and oversees Peter’s work effectively as vice president of policy (yes, he was internally elected). He also works with Sam Wilner and James Tsai, who work to allow visual arts classes to count toward your non-tech requirements and who represent the SEAS students in dealings with CCE, respectively. These people constantly make sure that SEAS only gets the best, and they do a very good job. One or more of them should be elected to the e-board.

But who knows about them? Who will vote for the guy who sits in the back and does all the work while others take credit for it? Giving credit where credit is not due has been an issue at Columbia for a while now, but internal elections ensure that you have the real workhorses at the helm.

We need the best to work for us. But the best also tend to be the most modest. Popularity contests lead to discord within councils, as has been shown in the past. The most popular presidents—those who speak most fluently and who are the most charming—don’t always have what it takes to lead a council or to represent you. Internal elections aren’t perfect, but they are infinitely better than the alternative.

Jessica Aspis and Amy Lin are seniors in the School of Engineering and Applied Science majoring in industrial engineering and operations research. They are the ESC 2008 class council representatives. Rajat Roy is a sophomore in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is the engineering liaison for Barnard College.