Candidates gear up for Metro election

SGA vice president, chair of lobbying group, journalist vie for presidency

By Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan

Three presidential candidates for the Student Government Assembly take widely different stands on what the group should do next term and why they entered the race.

Gabriel Hermelin, 31, is assembly vice president of Campus Communications. She has also been active in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans Student Services office since 1995.

Andy Nicholas is the representative to the Colorado Student Association and is running with a group of candidates called the Student Power Initiative.

The third candidate, Dave Flomberg, has not held a student government office, but he has covered the group as a reporter for The Metropolitan. Flomberg is currently a columnist and copy editor for the newspaper.

The deadline for student candidates to announce a bid for office was March 4, although campaigning doesnât begin officially until March 9. Voting is slated for April 6-8.

When she arrived at Metro in 1995, Hermelin said she sought out the services the college provides to students, especially GLBT Student Services. After coordinating the speakerâs bureau for that office, moving on to SGA was a natural path.

ãI chose as a freshman to invest in my campus,ä she said. ãFor me, itâs just continuing that investment. The only other avenues would be to be disgruntled and complain, which is not my way of doing things.ä

Hermelin said she is proud of student government accomplishments this year in the area of student fees. Jessie Bullock, assembly vice president of Student Fees, and other members of the assembly pushed for greater student control over the fees and helped draft a new student fee plan.

When the college introduced a new marketing campaign last year, Hermelin said she was concerned that students had been left out of the process. Thatâs when she hooked up with the collegeâs spokeswoman Debbie Thomas.

Together, Hermelin and Thomas started the  Communications Advisory Council. The committee, made up of students, faculty and staff, works with the office of College Communications on Metroâs marketing strategy.

Nicholas, a 20-year-old political science major, decided to run for president only a day before the deadline to register. It was the same day that President Karmin Trujillo pulled out of the race. Trujillo said she asked Nicholas to run.

Nicholas will lead the initiative ticket, which includes 10 candidates for other offices. Six on the ticket, including Nicholas, are assembly members this year.

Nicholas said that as president, he would focus on serving other SGA members.

ãIâll be in there mainly as one to make sure that everyone else in the student government gets what they want,ä he said.

As the CSA chairman, Nicholas has helped coordinate the groupâs lobbying efforts at the state legislature.

This year, Nicholas said CSA is largely responsible for a bill to outlaw hazing. Under the bill, college students convicted of hazing would face suspension for the rest of the academic year.

Flomberg summarized his campaign in one statement: ãVote for Dave. Why not?ä

Flomberg said his presidency would consist partly of cleaning up messes left by previous administrations. He said he would first assure that all SGA meetings and documents are open to the public.

Now meetings and documents that concern members or potential members of the group are typically closed, he said.

ãAt this level thereâs no reason to hide anything at all,ä Flomberg said.

Second, he said he would oversee rewriting the SGA constitution. Current SGA members, including Vice President of Academic Affairs Becky Geist, have said the current constitution is too vague. A committee of students and SGA members has been revising the constitution since summer. Flomberg agreed the constitution is inadequate, but  the new version is ãprobably not going to be any better,ä he said.

SGA members ãtake themselves way too seriously,ä Flomberg said. ãItâs an extension of high school, and anyone who thinks differently is mistaken.ä

Flomberg also griped about the recent rash of resignations among SGA members. He said that under his administration anyone who resigns would have to pay back the last three installments of their $500 monthly stipend.

Of 19 students who registered as candidates in the election, five are running unopposed.

Five of the candidates are incumbents.