Opinion

Op-Ed: Carson on legacy: A president’s prerogative

By Nelson Carson

Posted on March 23, 2011, at 11:26 p.m.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” — Mahatma Gandhi

It would not be news to any regular reader of The Maine Campus that my presidency has been the subject of much controversy since the unorthodox election process last semester.

When I found out after two hard fought elections I was going to be the next president of the undergraduate student body, it was long-awaited news.

My freshman year, I got into student government hoping to make serious changes. While I did so as I moved through the ranks, I knew my greater ambition was to work hard to become the leader of the organization I put so much effort into.

To me, being in this position was not about padding my resume or about getting a paycheck every week. It was not about having my own office and prestige. It was about doing what I have always done best — making others around me happy.

I quickly found out in order to put smiles on the faces of my constituents, I would have to truly understand and live by the aforementioned quote by Gandhi.

Following a platform based on personality, much experience and the aptitude to accomplish goals of students, I embarked upon opening honest lines of communication with anyone willing to express their ideas to ameliorate this campus.

As I began talking to more students, I started to realize the distorted conceptions many students, the faculty and even the administration have of University of Maine Student Government, Inc. The potential we have to help the student life on this campus was clouded by the fact that we needed to make organizational improvements to increase transparency for the students.

I hired an amazing director of External Affairs in Jose Roman, who took a once-diminishing position and turned it into one of the most functional pieces within this organization. He did it through a boundless commitment to reaching out to students.

I hired a new vice president of Student Organizations in Hannah Hudson, who reconstructed a new Student Organization website (www.umsgorgs.net) from scratch and began working beyond any fathomable capacity to set a dignified new bar for her position.

Working with newly elected Vice President Anthony Ortiz, we began collaborating with the General Student Senate in providing new methods of internal organization through the use of document-filled manuals and a more open line of communication from the executives to the senators and inevitably to the students themselves.

These improvements coincided with the holding of regular meetings with the administration, faculty and students to express and consider their concerns and to offer my own ideas. This is what I felt was the most important task of being the president of the undergraduate student body.

Where I have successfully helped students create groups on campus, provide organizations with necessities such as printers and worked on a level to collaborate great ideas, I have lacked in the most basic attribute of my presidency: Being there for my fellow senators.

In order for 33 senators to unanimously present articles of impeachment, there is clearly fundamental room for improvement on how I conduct myself internally. These allegations are not a “witch hunt” to bring down my presidency.

Rather, they are justified examples of where I need to make changes in order to regain the respect and trust of the senators and ex-officio members who dedicate so much time and effort into an organization, which at the end of the day, they would like to be proud of.

I would never want to be the reason someone loses respect for this organization and with such strong allegations, I am running the risk of being just that person. As a human being and the CEO of a $750,000 nonprofit organization, I am willing to accept the fact that mistakes have been made. As always, there is room for improvement.

I know and hope to prove what needs to be done to better this organization in order to move forward for UMSG, Inc. and the student body as a whole.

I only ask that I be given the opportunity to show we can all be the change we want to see on this campus.

Nelson Carson is the University of Maine Student Body President.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011, 11:26 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.