Walrath-Goldsmith Platform Analysis

Quick Hits
Favorite Plank: "Create a Service Transcript that shows volunteer hours on your transcript"
Least Favorite Plank: "We want to make the funding process for student groups easier and make funding information more readily available" due to vagueness and difficulty.
Unique Plank: "Panther Points"
Theme: Standard Platform with strong and weak points

Click the link to see the platform and follow along: Spencer and Ian Platform

NISG Outreach and Accountability

This section is pretty standard as far as the basics go. The only new pledge on here that I really like is that you can follow the progress that they are making on completing their initiatives they promised on the NISG website. They were also pretty bold in taking a stance on the size of the senate, not only with their votes as current senators, but also now as candidates. I am sure there are some senators that will be offended by comments about the senate, such as calling them "stagnant and self absorbed." I am very happy that they want to expand the use of the NISG website.

Student Groups

As I read this section, specifically about funding, I wanted to know, how? The NISG funding guidelines are pretty specific and yes, can be very difficult to understand. Even after a platform update, I am still left asking how do Spencer and Ian propose to make the funding process easier for students to access and understand? Also, helping student orgs communicate sounds like a good idea, but it can be more difficult to actually achieve then one might realize. Often times the database will not have the right information available about who is in charge etc. It will take a lot of manpower and staff time from someone in the executive branch, but certainly not the President. I was a big fan of having the Director of Administration keep records of success for student organization events.After a platform revision, they added a shout out to the Greek Community, but offered no specific ideas. Overall, this again was a pretty generic section that I would expect from any candidate, but they were able to spice it up a bit. Still left me with some questions.

Parking

Who doesn't love to complain about the parking on campus!? I am happy to see that Spencer and Ian will advocate for reallocating of spots and they have done their research on the costs. The section here that will probably cause a lot of debate is the concept of encouraging freshmen to leave their cars at home. While they do point out that it would NOT be mandatory, it still raises some questions. Do give Spencer and Ian some credit though. They developed a solution, that might not be popular, but at least it is an idea.

Panther Pride

Next is the idea of Panther Points. The concept is great. It is really a fantastic idea and I love it. The problem is just how realistic can it be? Card swipers at every lecture? Who is collecting this data at each and every event? There are some difficult questions to be answered about how the implementation will work, but overall, it sounds like a great idea. It concerns me a bit that Spencer and Ian are drawing attention to "the interlude dance" in the campaign. If they go on to win, I hope it isn't because they were known as the "interlude guys." Leading the student section is one thing, leading the student body is another.

Diversity

This is a pretty solid section of the Walrath-Goldsmith platform. They have outlined specifics on who, how, what, why, and where and it is clear they know their stuff. All I can say is, good work.

Green

Like the previous section, I am impressed with the details and information about their "Green Ideas" listed here. I am partial to the Paperless Homework idea as I had something similar on my platform. Working with faculty senate will be crucial to accomplish this goal, but there are certainly a lot of professors who would be willing to do this.

Lobbying

Pretty standard ideas here. They point out the role Spencer played in creating the DOGR which is certainly an advantage. I also like the idea of having forums on the UNI campus.

Finances

It is refreshing to see them address the fact that the budget situation doesn't look good and that they understand that. They aren't proposing new ideas that would cost a lot, which was smart thinking by them. They again have done their homework and Spencer's NISG experience has without a doubt come in handy while crafting this section.

Curriculum

Fantastic and new ideas in this section. The idea of a co-curricular transcript is outstanding. While the upcoming budget cuts will probably lead to some majors being eliminated, the fact is that the NISG President and Vice President need to be the voice of students and sometimes, that means disagreeing with the UNI Administration. Spencer and Ian clearly understand that with their stance on majors being cut.

Conclusion:

This platform contains the issues that are relevant to students and also introduces some new ideas. They laid out specific plans and for the most part had specific information as to how things would be implemented. The biggest question mark has to be the Panther Points system. This could be a deal breaker. I'm looking forward in the weeks ahead to seeing a plan as to how this could logistically work. Overall this is a strong platform and frankly it is what I expected these candidates to produce. They have experience and an understanding of the way the university works, which certainly helped them when putting this together.