Despite their pessimistic name, the Doomsday Party decided to run with the main goal of making students more optimistic about SG. The slate members said they believe that most students see SG as secretive, unapproachable, and almost invisible most of the year. The Doomsday Party seeks to change this perception.
“The current executive slate has lost touch with the student body, and most students here don’t know what SG can actually do for them,” said Mike McCarney, the slate’s candidate for president. “Solving the abysmal failure of communication between the SG leadership and the student community as a whole is our top priority. We believe that the students should be setting the agenda, and we don’t have a long list of résumé-padding pet projects: only sensible solutions to problems that should have never been allowed to arise. What’s astounding to us is how utterly simple it would be to dramatically improve the situation.”
Doomsday plans to rework the SG website to help SG reconnect with the student body. They also want to host a series of forums for all University students to address questions and concerns about SG in person. The slate also promises to improve the budget for RSO funding allocations. “There is no panacea to the annual financial difficulties, but SG itself has the means to provide expanded financial flexibility for RSO-sponsored events,” McCarney said. “By guaranteeing that a portion of each quarter’s SGFC funds will not be allocated until after the quarter actually begins, student groups will have greater leeway in planning their events, and RSOs that get started later in the year will have better access to funding.”
Doomsday also wants to expand SGFC’s role to include advising RSOs on fundraising activities and helping student groups design effective campaigns to meet their financial needs through special roundtable fundraising discussions to joint fundraising drives with SG and one or more RSOs. The slate looks to foster a more direct relationship between current and past students by forming a special committee on student-alumni relations, which would work with the Alumni Association and the Administration to increase awareness of current student life with Chicago alums. “We will work to facilitate the process of donations to a general fund for the enhancement of all the diverse and valuable activities and programs that make student life more stimulating and enjoyable, as well as to individual student organizations and events,” McCarney said.
This slate wants SG to better hold itself accountable to the rest of the student body through greater visibility. Anyone interested in the Doomsday Party can read its official campaign blog, doomsdayparty.blogspot.com.
4-19-05-kristine–doomsday2.jpg
