Current Story: Dell vs. Wilson for SG PresidentAuthor: Rick Smith
As the clock struck noon last Friday, student body presidential candidate Dan Wilson walked out of the elections office on the second floor of the University Center with a smile on his face.
Wilson thought he was the only candidate running for president in the April 12-13 election. Wilson didn’t know that three minutes before the deadline to declare for president, at exactly 11:57, former Student Body Vice President Brent Dell emailed his intention to run for president. When Wilson found out that Dell was running, he said, “that’s cool.”
As student body president, Dell or Wilson will represent 25,000 students across all seven campuses. Last year, just fewer than 2,000 students voted in the SG elections, which is less than 10-percent of the total student population.
Dell explained, “a few students asked me to run again, so I did.” Wilson did not return two phone calls and two emails asking for comment.One person who did respond was MacArthur Senate Speaker Heather Boyer.
“Dell was the best governor that the MacArthur campus has ever had. Dan Wilson is late to UWC meetings, he doesn’t do much during the UWC meetings, and I can’t imagine that he’d want to put the effort into leading the entire student government,” said Boyer.
Also supporting Dell is Treasure Coast Governor Marshall. “Wilson shows up late to meetings, and does not attend some meetings, including missing three of the meetings regarding raising student fees.” Marshall is referring to the committee that meets every Monday regarding the proposed increase in the athletic fee, which currently is at $11.75 an hour.
Gary Goldberg is supporting Wilson. “He is the best candidate with the team we created. The team that we created is the best possible picture for next year’s student government,” said Goldberg, who ran with Wilson last year, then resigned from two posts in SG this year, and now is seeking election for the Boca Senate.
The president of the student body is the highest-paid student government member. This past October, the University-Wide Council, which is a board of the highest ranking SG officials, raised their own paychecks 25-percent, retroactively back to July 1 (see UP issue 15, December 2, 2004).
Wilson was one of those UWC members that didn’t object for the pay increase, although he told the UP he “didn’t have any input on it” and that he had “no opinion on that.” Wilson later cited inflation and working 40-hours a week as a reason for the pay increase.
Dell however said that when he was Vice-President in 2003-2004, “I too was one of the students that was putting in 40 hours a week, but was only getting paid 20 hours. I know in the past I had a second job.” Dell then says that he didn’t “feel that it was necessary [the pay raise]” and that “the money could have went to better things.”
The UWC allocated the same 25-percent pay raise again this year at their budget meeting two months ago, a meeting that Wilson was late for.
The student body president will make $12,750 for 51 weeks of work next year, which is 20 hours a week at $12.50 an hour. He will also get 12 undergraduate credits paid for per semester, as well as his own Blackberry cell phone and parking spot.
Another duty of the post is to serve as a member of the FAU’s Board of Trustees. As described on the BOT website, “The trustees are responsible for cost-effective policy decisions appropriate to the university’s mission, the implementation and maintenance of high-quality education programs, the measurement of performance, the reporting of information and the provision of input regarding state policy, budgeting, and education standards.”
Wilson’s running mate will be Kirk Murray. Murray is the Chief of Staff for current president Alvira Khan.
Partnering with Dell for the election is Lawrence “Beau” Lavender. Lavender, while not holding a position in SG currently, is the general manager for the Ice Hockey Club, and ran with Dell in last year’s election.
Dell lost in last year’s election to Khan. He attributes his loss to Wilson’s fraternity and sorority support. Dell’s election teammates won every other seat across the other three campuses, except the Broward Representative, which Dell didn’t have a teammate for.
The SG elections office has not scheduled any debates as of deadline. However, Dell says he is planning a debate of his own for the week of April 4-8 on the Boca Raton campus.
Dell says he sent Wilson an email asking for his availability during that week for a debate, and has not heard back from him. Dell is also seeking an administrator to volunteer to moderate the debate.
For related articles and information regarding the elections, log onto www.fau.edu/uponline and click on the elections logo
The official website for the SG elections is www.sga.fau.edu/elections.
In the interest of full disclosure, Rick “$mitty” Smith was an election teammate of Brent Dell last election season. Smith lost in the election to Wilson.
Over the next few weeks, the University Press will cover the SG elections as close as possible. Check our website at www.fau.edu/uponline for updates on where the election stands as soon as they become available
