Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
My name is Stephan Lefebvre and I am running for the position of Student Council Secretary. As Secretary, I will take notes at all of the meetings and I will make sure the minutes continue to be posted timely on the StuCo blog. Also, I believe it is the Secretary’s duty to continue to push for transparency and accountability for the Student Council and the College itself.
The current Council has done a remarkable job of reaching out to the Swarthmore community – most notably they station themselves outside Sharples and host fun events with the intention of gathering feedback and offering opportunities for concerns to be raised. My interest in serving on the Student Council was sparked by their inspiring outreach and the realization that other parts of our institution are not so forthcoming. Lately, the Financial Justice campaign has raised issues about the College’s transparency. I will work to bring all aspects of decision making at this College to light. To do this I will join the current Council members in constantly seeking input so as to align my priorities with my that of my peers and friends. As Secretary, I will be able to quickly act on these concerns by proposing solutions to people in positions of power at the College.
As the Council’s Secretary, I see the potential for becoming an influential facilitator for building institutional memory on campus. Does your favorite student organization, whether it is a sports team, a performing arts group, or a part of the IC and BCC community, have the resources to document its activities for posterity? Will the new leadership next year have to reinvent the wheel? I’m interested in working with the Deans to create a systematic way of keeping intergroup records that is easy to use and preserves confidentiality for those groups for whom this is important. These records will have immediate benefits. For example, written records about whom to contact for departmental funding and how to order a take-out meal for your group from Sharples will encourage new students as well as group members without much free time to help with events.
Last year, as Treasurer for the Swarthmore Queer Union (SQU), I started to learn the ins-and-outs of Swarthmore, including how to work with the Student Budget Committee (SBC) to get funding for groups and activities. My experience working to plan events such as Paces parties, workshops, book sales and events for Coming Out Week have made me aware that the intricacies of getting stuff done at this school should be available to all. This year I have helped get several new student groups chartered, and I’m serving as the Business Editor of the Halcyon, in which capacity I’m entrusted with all the funds used for designing, printing, and delivering the yearbooks. While I still have a lot to learn, I feel like it is time to put the experience I’ve gained to use.
After a year and a half, I see Swarthmore as a place where I get to live with and learn from the most amazing people anywhere. I want to serve on the Student Council to address those few moments when I notice that something could be improved. You deserve a Student Council Secretary that is willing to do more than take notes!
Since this comment was neither nice nor constructive (see our rules below), it has been deleted.
I think it's elitist that Adam tried to run unopposed. Who the Hell does he think he is? He wasn't ordained by God the Almighty to be Secretary, no matter what he thinks!
As this comment egregiously violated the rules enumerated below, it has been removed.
#! Please make sure you check your facts before you wage such offensive attacks against people. It's highly uncalled for, please don't base the time at which an article is posted on when a decision was made. Again, check your facts, Stephan is an incredibly qualified candidate and has wanted to run for this position for a while, as I can confirm.
Anonymous, I'm not making my claim just based on when the articles were posted. I don't think Adam has any right to run unopposed–I'm not questioning Tiffany's right to run. I just think there may be more to the story than Stephan's interest in the position. Thank you for allowing me my point of view.
Again, I urge you not to think you know the whole story when you do not. I obviously cannot limit your sharing of your point of view although I don't think it is a constructive one. No one likes Gazette articles becoming gossip sessions, if you have something to say, say it to Stephan, or keep it to yourself.
SQU pride?, I think it's evident from your first post that you were making a fairly personal attack on Stephan. You don't know the whole story behind why Stephan decided to run for this position. Therefore, how can you make such a statement as, "Stephan, I think it's fairly disgusting that you only decided to run after Adam did." Why do you think that "there may be more to the story than Stephan's interest in the position"? Stephan's running for this position has nothing to do with Adam, nor does it have anything to do with your pseudonym "SQU pride?" You're taking your own personal feelings and using them to make unfounded assumptions. And maybe you don't think that Adam has the right to run unopposed, but you clearly seem to think that he has the right not to run opposed by Stephan, which doesn't make any sense. Why should Stephan not run just because Adam is running? Your comment is petty and immature. I don't know if you have personal issues you need to work out related to SQU or to Adam, but making such a disgusting personal attack based on a petty and rash assumption definitely sheds some light on your character. THat was a malicious comment and it had nothing to do with Stephan's platform, which, if you read it, is very good.
SQU Pride? please refrain from dragging your own personal problems into an area where they don't belong. The rest of us definitely don't want to see them.
Oh no. Don't tell me the Gazette is the new Jolt.
Hey folks.
Please note our discussion rules:
Be nice.
Be constructive.
Don't curse.
Don't threaten.
Some of these comments are crossing the line.
I think the comments are probably worth being modded down, but I think deleting them is what goes over the line (I have heard what the comments were and they're really not that bad). That just makes discourse confusing (as what people respond to is gone) and especially on a political matter like this one, albeit college politics, silencing discourse seems unwise. Just my opinion.
I agree with Peter'11 about the deletion of the comments. I think that it's important to have them if only to make later following of the "discussion" make sense. However I have to disagree that they were "really not that bad." I think they were awful, especially SQU pride?'s comment, which I felt to be extrememly low unnecessary, and not related at all to the candidate's platform.
Yeah, my previous comment reads like an attack on this Adam fellow when in actuality it was a response to an attack on this Stephan fellow. Down with censorship! It makes me confused!
While I can see the argument for leaving remarks like Dr. House's, if there's going to be a moderating system at all based on the above rules, post #1 had to be eliminated. As it stood, it was more-or-less Jolt-level gossip, a directly defamatory remark that demanded substance to support it, but had none. While for all I know there is some sort of bizarre SQU infighting that only secret insiders and informers can tell us about, the interest of "knowing" this weird hypothetical didn't really outweigh the interest of keeping probably baseless attacks away from the forum (and, really, any random person who will google "Stephan Lefebvre" in the future). This would be very different, imho, if SQU Pride had some substantive remarks or facts to back the accusation.
Contrast this with the comments on Tiffany Lee's platform (http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2008/11/10/stuco-platforms-sec-tlee/)… they're kind-of snarky, but they're not quite as bad because, hey, her platform *is* pretty barren (no offense, Tiffany Lee, if you're reading these words).
So did Barack Obama give this kid permission to use his logo in the 20,000 flyers he's posted around campus?
Shit, that's annoying.
Yo Stephan: don't let the bastards get you down.