The byelection is a waste of money, time, and sleep for all involved. But it’s happening, which means we need an option that won’t generate even worse problems. Between born-again candidate Deepak Sharma; Darien Lechner coming in like a wrecking ball on Build SFU; and interim president Larissa Chen, the gal who’s worn authority for months now seems like the obvious choice.
Chen didn’t accept the presidency when she had the chance, and some would suggest that shows hesitancy and indecision unbefitting of a presidential figure. Whatever the case was then, it’s clear now that she’s pouring serious effort into this. She already knows the job, and yet another election approaches in four months; why waste time on acclimatizing another president, when we could give the current one time to actually accomplish things?
Chen’s shown a detailed plan including improving policies for handling sexual violence on campus, supporting clubs, and fixing the archaic laws governing the SFSS itself. What have we seen from the others?
Sharma’s sloppy. He made a spectacle of discussing his resignation on Facebook, only to submit his platform days late, because running again was a last-minute decision. If he wants influence over thousands of students, he should work double-time to prove that he won’t flake out again; instead, he’s looking increasingly unreliable.
Lechner’s passionate, but 99 percent of that goes into complaining about Build SFU levies; the other percent engenders dark and melodramatic buzzwords. His criticisms aren’t wrong, but as poorly as the project’s been handled, we need to pay for it. Anyone can complain about how the people in charge do things. That’s no reason to trust Lechner, whose political experience is minimal, above those people.
Chen’s a hard worker, considering how she’s juggled two different SFSS positions, and I can trust that more than anyone’s promises. She makes sense, and I think throwing that away to bet on people who’ve done little to convince us of their qualifications is a poor move.
