After a process that took much longer than expected due to a secretary run-off election, members of the Aquinas community finally know who their new Senate leaders are.

Beginning Senate’s March 26 meeting, outgoing Chair Josh Marko praised Aquinas President C. Edward Balog, the Senate Cabinet, adviser Dave Weinandy and the Senate at large.

Balog praised Marko’s term, saying “I had a great time working with Josh.”

Taking over for Marko will be John Kalinowski, who greeted the assembly via a short video. Kalinowski was unable to attend the meeting as he is studying in Germany until the end of July. Senators were greeted with a surprise, however, as Kalinowski had shaved his signature beard for the presentation.
Kalinowski beat out former Vice Chair Brandon Sexton for the position by just 10 votes — taking 207 to Sexton’s 197.

Leading the assembly until Kalinowski’s return will be Brad Bosserman, who was elected vice chair. He won the post handily with 260 votes compared to freshman Sam Granger’s 131. Bosserman will serve as acting chair until Kalinowski’s return.

Interestingly, the secretary vote was a statistical dead tie at the time of the meeting, and so Bosserman was the only member that could be sworn in. Secretary candidates Kasey Baker and Amanda Chatel participated in a run-off election last Thursday, with Baker eventually coming out on top, 224 to 195.

Baker will be sworn in at the next meeting.

Interim Provost Don Chaffee continued the meeting, focusing on a new mission statement regarding academic integrity. The statement had been approved by both the Aquinas Board of Trustees and the Faculty Assembly. The motion passed the Senate without incident.

Chaffee additionally provided Senate with the results of the recently conducted survey on academic integrity at Aquinas.

“What I found was that most of the responses were pretty similar,” Chaffee said, referring to the similarities between faculty and student responses.

He noted that academic cheating occurs “seldom” or “very seldom,” according to the survey taken by approximately 50 faculty and 300 students. Overall, however, the survey’s results confirmed what Chaffee described as a decidedly more “pessimistic” attitude of the faculty regarding cheating.

Budget Director Karen Harag then presented the assembly with an update, stating that there was $1,043 left in the unallocated account.

The Political Affairs Committee also presented senators with a consensus of the Senate Cabinet that the Clubs and Organizations Committee be eliminated. If this occurred, Campus Life would take over and consolidate its former duties.

Some expressed concern over the plan. “I would just like to keep clubs and orgs in touch with Senate,” said Special Events Director Ian O’Brien.

Finally, Student Affairs Director Alex Getz presented the results of the Co-Educational Survey. In response to the question, “Have you ever broken the co-ed policy?,” approximately 80 percent of students said they had. Getz concluded by saying he would take the results to Residence Life for future consideration.

Six candidates — two for each position — are formally in the running: John Kalinowski and Brandon Sexton for chair; Brad Bosserman and Sam Granger for vice chair; and Kasey Baker and Amanda Chatel for secretary.

This year, the Senate has introduced electronic voting and students will cast their votes online via a secure system on The Moose. On Wednesday, the Senate held its first public debate in the Donnelly Center, where the candidates introduced themselves and took questions from an audience of students, faculty and staff.

The battle for chair pits two Senate veterans against one another, with Kalinowski serving as co-director of the Political Affairs Committee and Sexton serving as vice chair for the past year. In laying out their visions for Aquinas, the two struck upon similar themes that would be echoed throughout the debate by all of the candidates.

Communication, as they say, is key.

“I want to make Senate more well known and break down those barriers,” said Sexton, responding to a question regarding the image of Senate on campus.

He noted that he brings a distinct “level of honesty” to Senate.

His opponent also stressed the importance of better communication and emphasized the need to act with responsibility.

“The chair is sort of a figurehead,” said Kalinowski. “The chair needs to keep that in mind, that he’s a representative of the Student Senate and the student body.”

Sexton concurred, adding that the chair must have “a sense of direction,” and “be willing to take it up a notch.”

Asked by a member of the audience what kind of legacy they would like to leave behind, Kalinowski and Sexton offered slightly contrasting answers.

“I would like to build tradition at Aquinas,” said Kalinowski, who added that he would like to see a greater emphasis on our namesake, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Sexton focused instead on making the campus more attractive and strengthening retention rates. He also affirmed his commitment to the sustainability initiative at Aquinas.

Among the candidates for vice chair, there was similar agreement, although the debate was more striking in its tone. Current co-director of Political Affairs Brad Bosserman spoke at length of his accomplishments and what he intends to do as vice chair, and was more than once cut off by the moderator due to the length of his remarks. Among his goals are reevaluating the meal plan system at the expiration of the current contract, and improving the alumni network to better serve former graduates and current students.

Bosserman’s opponent, Sam Granger, expressed concern that the Student Senate is viewed by many on campus as “a kind of game that political science majors play.” He expressed his desire to increase access to Senate officers and resources, and “improve campus life with more programs on the weekends,” a suggestion that was echoed by Kalinowski.

Nearly all of the candidates said that facilities on campus could use a face-lift and all spoke on the need to advance diversity on campus.

The candidates for secretary struck a congenial tone, with both Kasey Baker and Amanda Chatel praising the value of “open-mindedness” and creativity, and assuring those present that they take good notes.

Indeed, it was Internet fundraising that precipitated the rise of Howard Dean in 2004, a dedicated core of bloggers that fueled the Ron Paul “revolution” in 2007 and continually updated sites such as The Drudge Report and The Huffington Post that pressured the ultimate demise of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

And that’s to say nothing of Facebook — a network of more than 60 million global users who, along with the YouTube generation, comprise what may be the most tantalizing voter base in politics today.

In this year’s presidential election, voters can “make friends” with each of the leading candidates at their respective Facebook pages, watch campaign ads, and share their own thoughts on important issues.

Enter the Aquinas Student Senate race, which culminates in online elections on March 23 and 24. All leadership positions are up for grabs — the most prominent being those of chair and vice chair.
The following is just a glimpse at the four candidates’ Facebook pages — all information was collected on March 15 and is in the public domain.

CHAIR | John Kalinowski
John Kalinowski, whose interests include board gaming and ironing, describes himself as a “pariah” who sets “the microphone on fire.”

He enjoys all things French — particularly “expatriation” — and is a member of the group “I’m the kind of person they killed during the French Revolution.”

He is also a member of his own fan club.

CHAIR | Brandon Sexton
Brandon Sexton is a traveling man, who lists such things as “road trips,” “hiking,” “camping,” “canoeing” and “world domination” among his interests. His profile gives credence to Facebook — in that it sports his smiling face and takes nearly as long to read as a book.

Favorite quotes include one unattributed that reads: “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.” He describes himself as a political “moderate.”

VICE CHAIR | Brad Bosserman
When he’s not busy working at the Moose Café, Brad Bosserman can be found “fantasizing about grad schools,” or enjoying “the first half of “Good Will Hunting.”

Bosserman, who enjoys “politics, good books, good women” and “rock shows,” is a member of Aquinas Democrats and is a supporter of Jennifer Granholm, Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama.

VICE CHAIR | Sam Granger
Sam Granger who exhibits “general up-beatness and laid-backness,” describes himself as “conservative” who enjoys Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Seven of his friends have voted him most likely to “Kick it with Jesus someday.”

Granger plays guitar and hand-drums, and wishes his life were a “chick flick” so he could share his happiness and “capitalize off it.”