It’s over. Go home now, but look toward this blog as the elections near Thursday and Friday, news is breaking all the time. Thanks!

7:56

ASSU Salaries

There’s no tangible difference between Zimbroff-Wagstaff and MacGregor-Dennis-Druthi. From what they said, its fair to assume both slates would both keep salary levels fairly consistent.

Open Source: “Grab the money and run.”

HUGE ENDORSEMENT BREAKING: Peter Lindener – perhaps better known as the man who plays saxophone in White Plaza – made a surprise visit and advocated on behalf of the Open Source candidates. Game-changer.

7:46

Fiscal Responsibility:

Open Source noted that an unfunny group called “Taiko” was buying huge drums. In addition though, they again brought up MacGregor-Dennis’ $10,000 salary.

MacGregor-Dennis again didn’t address his salary. He said he supported the funding of concerts from the buffer fund, though he wanted it to be a more sustainable in the future. He also touted his experience as a member of the appropriations committee when he was a senator.

William Wagstaff noted things like textbook exchange would receive funding, though MacGregor-Dennis noted that such a service was already created for free and questioned the wisdom of spending money on it. Zimbroff responded by reading the website’s disclaimer – that it wouldn’t be deployed until Winter 2012.

7:40

Zimbroff-Wagstaff directly attacked Stewart’s platform, quoting from the Stanford Review and saying they were wildly unrealistic and way too ambitious. MacGregor-Dennis responded that quoting from the paper that endorsed them isn’t really unbiased, and noted that some ideas – such as a new full-time accountant for SSE – is already underway. “Sorry guys,” MacGregor-Dennis said.

7:35 

Highlights so far:

Other than Open Source’s antics, the highlight have been exchanges over the current effectiveness of the ASSU Executive. MacGregor-Dennis has maintained that they have done more than students know, while Zimbroff-Wagstaff have said several times the ASSU Executive is disconnected and they would reconnect.

In addition, current ASSU senator Dan DeLong is holding up a sign: “Why did Stewart take a $10,000 salary last year?” It’s been raised several times but not addressed by MacGregor-Dennis. Important to note: Zimbroff-Wagstaff have not said they would decrease salary levels.

7:30

Experience

Robbie Zimbroff and William Wagstaff noted their experience in community organizations, club sports and Wagstaff’s fraternity experience prepared them to identify the “pitfalls of everyday student life.”

Open Source noted their experience in high school student council. “We may not be book smart, but we are street smart… and pasture smart.”

Stewart and Druthi detailed each other’s experience, again stressing the insider/outsider dynamic.

7:27

Who do candidates feel were good student government leaders?

Stewart: Michael Cruz, someone he said always works tirelessly through criticism on behalf of all students

The Chappie slate said Stewart was their ideal leader, noting several times the $10,000 salary of MacGregor-Dennis.

Robbie Zimbroff said Johnny Dorsey, who he felt was always approachable and available to students. They also added that ASSU experience doesn’t mean you’re qualified to be ASSU executive.

7:23

Is the ASSU disconnected from the Student body? If so, how would you work toward fixing that.

Stewart started by saying that he felt Angelina and Cruz were both connected to the student body, but they’d refocus. Druthi echoed the sentiment that the ASSU was slightly disconnected.

Open Source encouraged the audience to connect with them – after all, their platform is a wiki. Koning suggested if you like one of the candidates more than them, just edit their platform to make it theirs. They even offered to act like them and mimic their personalities…

Robbie Zimbroff said that he would seek to reconnect the ASSU Executive to the student body, noting interesting tactics used previously like videos released to the student body.

To close the question, Stewart said he felt that the Executive is largely unfairly portrayed as ineffective, as happens with many politicians.

7:16

One action item:

Zimbroff-Wagstaff noted the many groups that tutor in EPA – why can’t those be better coordinated, asked Wagstaff? Increased coordination between student groups would improve the campus.

Daniel Koning and Kian Ameli mostly talked about how student artists are “crappy”, and more money should be spent on arts.

MacGregor-Dennis focused on the November presidential election, and talked about how the ASSU could improve civic action. Druthi added that it would allow students to pursue their passions for next year.

7:11

Top student issues

Stewart said stereotypes, such as in the community centers, powerfully affecting these students is a huge issue. Reforming the ASSU Executive, expanding student services and having impact on communities.

William Wagstaff said people don’t feel like stakeholders in diversity. “One thing we really want to do it make sure people are stakeholders.” Robbie Zimbroff added that dealing with student life issues shouldn’t be outside the purview of the ASSU. If Late-night dining is what you want, Zimbroff said that was something the ASSU should be working on.

Kian Ameli for “Open Source” said he wanted to blow smoke in a baby’s face. Or something like that – I was a bit distracted by the exposed butt of the person refilling his drink. Conclusion was “Crowdsourcing, smoking and second-hand smoke for infants.”

6:57 PM

Debate begins! Mic trouble means voice projection is the critical issue of the debate so far. Opening statements begin.

Zimbroff-Wagstaff: Stressing the common-sense solution. Several problems student groups face. “We won’t try to solve all your problems.”

Open Source: The Chappie slate began by saying they will solve all your problems. Any problems you write on their wiki.

Stewart-Druthi: ASSU insider and ASSU outsider, pitching themselves as the most experienced within and from outside the ASSU.

5. “I’ve realized that the crowdsourcing/outsourcing space truly reflects my passions for realizing ideas and making change happen. #epiphany.”

• Don’t pretend like you know what this tweet means. First of all, is he crowdsourcing/outsourcing space? Or are those adjectives describing space? In which case, how does a space reflect passion? Also, is his idea for making change to outsource ideas to other people? Isn’t that counter to the ideals of self-actualization? I DON’T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THESE BUZZWORDS MEAN ANYMORE.

4. “Intensity. http://pic.twitter.com/SY8egaAo”

• This is the picture that inspired a meme, and it’s just hilarious every time I look at it. Far be it for me to disagree – nothing screams ‘intense’ like posing in front of angel wings and applying a Photoshop color filter.

3. “Had decided that his spirit animal is a Silverback Mountain Gorilla. What’s yours?”

• Imagine you go to a Spirit Animal party and someone tells you they are a Silverback Mountain Gorilla. Not a gorilla. Not a Mountain Gorilla. But the adult male of a subset of gorillas, of which only 1,000 exist. “Intensity” again.

2. “New habit to form: cold showering.”

• Most people know what a cold shower means. That’s a commonly accepted phrase. Who knows – maybe SMD really just likes cold showers. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t fully convince myself that this tweet doesn’t have to do with something a little more personal than just energy consumption. But hey, any guy out there can relate to this.

1. Stewart MacGregor-Dennis 2.0 – my life plan.

• It doesn’t get better than this. The tweet that started it all – the life plan. Want to know how SMD enters his ‘peak state’? Or perhaps why he’s holding his hands in different positions when he feels different emotions? All these answers (and more) lie in this 40-page self-analysis, an exhaustive walkthrough of the life and mind of your current Vice-President and candidate for ASSU Executive.

Pang has served as the chair of the Appropriations Committee for the 13th Undergraduate Senate this past year. DeLong served alongside her in the Senate.

“Brianna and I left the Executive race largely because we recognized that we would not be able to adequately carry out our commitments in the ASSU—especially after we considered our academic coursework, friendships, and the other priorities that I know we both share with other students at Stanford,” DeLong wrote in an email to The Daily. “And I am excited to continue to work with Brianna outside of the ASSU next year.”

With DeLong and Pang out of the race, Stewart MacGregor-Dennis ‘13, current VP, is the only candidate that has significant ASSU experience, though his running-mate, Druthi Ghanta ’14, has none.

Additionally, this news means zero of the 15 Undergraduate Senators will hold an elected official position within the ASSU next year.

Without the influential SOCC endorsement—given to Zimbroff-Wagstaff—it may have been difficult, although certainly not impossible, for Pang-DeLong to win.

 Meanwhile, in Stewart MacGregor-Dennis’ campaign…

Our current ASSU VP and candidate for Exec appears to favor non-traditional campaign activities, doing this election his own way.

Transparency is a buzzword that is thrown around elections a lot. But SMD is the only candidate with a forty page life plan, including flowcharts, posted online for anyone to read. And boy, does he include everything. With descriptions of romantic strategies and peak states, I’m inclined to put a NSFW tag on this bad boy…

Want more transparency? Walk to class with SMD! “We are going to be live vlogging the entire campaign.”

Forty page life plan not enough? BOOM! FORTY-ONE page executive platform release.

And finally, there’s this, the 56-second, must-watch video of the campaign season so far.

This is unsurprising – both are heavily involved in the black community and are Ujamaa RAs. The only serious challenger to the SOCC endorsement would have been Brianna Pang, who was endorsed by SOCC as a senator last year and served as the Senate’s Appropriations Chair. In that post she successfully ensured funding for minority student groups, such as the Black Student Union, though it’s possible that the combined involvement of Zimbroff-Wagstaff was too much to overcome.

Pang and her running mate, Dan DeLong, decided to drop out of the race to pursue personal interests next year. Both insist their decision had nothing to do with SOCC’s choice to endorse Zimbroff-Wagstaff.

“We’re incredibly excited to have the SOCC endorsement,” Robbie Zimbroff told The Daily. “We have a lot of experience working with and in communities of color, and we want to work in concrete, practical terms on behalf of all students.”

Zimbroff and Wagstaff have also secured endorsements from The Queer Coalition, Green Alliance for Innovative Action (GAIA) and the Stanford Review. The Daily’s Editorial Board has yet to endorse a candidate, and is expected to do so Wednesday.

Welcome to the new ASSU blog of the Stanford Daily.

As Daily staffers, we get to engage with our student government much more than the average student. We cover their meetings, interview senators and members of the Executive and talk an unhealthy amount about what they’re up to.

Over time, we realized that our student government was much more interesting than most students know. All the bills, initiatives and actions of our elected officials – from the serious to the hilarious to the profoundly absurd – are done representing you. Love it or hate it, this group of students is the face of Stanford to the outside world and the administration.

We created this blog in the hopes of giving you more in-depth analysis and coverage about the ASSU. As in the production of all Stanford Daily content, we will strive for accuracy and to be fair to the truth. Our content will be produced to inform, engage and entertain you, the average Stanford student who doesn’t have the same access or time we have.

What we look forward to the most about this blog is hearing your thoughts. Write us a comment – we’ll read it. Ask us a question – we’ll answer it. Write us a blog post – we’ll publish it. It’s your student government, and too often you are left out of the conversation. We want this blog to be a step toward fixing that.

So, just in time for elections, we bring you our new blog. Stick around, prop your feet up and enjoy yourself. We look foward to hearing from you soon.

Brendan O’Byrne and Billy Gallagher

assublog@stanforddaily.com