We meet again, Student Government Association (SGA) presidential elections. Like many others, I appreciate the programs and events that SGA sponsors on campus, but I also have my reservations and criticisms. I am also sure that many of us, because of past complications, are fairly jaded when it comes to the SGA hierarchy. However, the amount of complaints I casually hear around campus concerning SGA probably do not reflect the amount of people who have taken a role in selecting those who head our very own student government.

As president of the Northeastern University Political Review (NUPR), I have dealt with more red tape than I thought possible when trying to plan events and meeting spaces. I have been told by The Office of Scheduling and Event Planning (OSEP) to ask the Registrar and have been told by the Registrar to ask Scheduling. I have been told by the Finance Board that we have to use the printing company no student group would voluntarily choose because of their awful customer service, only because they are the cheapest option. I have wondered what Student Activity Business Office forms I am supposed to hold onto, which to hand in, which to have signed and raced to the office before 5 p.m. on a Friday.

I am happy to say we have an SGA presidential candidate who understands. Having planned multiple events and coordinated many student group meetings, I can truthfully say that junior political science major Peter Petrin understands what it is like to deal with the red tape and the Shuffle. Years ago, before a bid for SGA President was on the table, he had always talked about how the system surrounding student activities needed to be more transparent and needed to engage students, because after all, the system is here for us. With Peter as SGA President, I look forward to a system for student activities that is not unnecessarily complicated, cuts out the Shuffle, and works for its students.

Peter is a part of Generation Citizen, Phi Delta Theta, Political Science Student Association, Student Government Association and I am sure that there are more I have forgotten. I can honestly say that on multiple occasions, I have picked Peter’s brain over the best way to go about hosting an event or used him as my own personal SABO reference guide; if there is anyone who empathizes with student groups on what it takes to simply have a student group, it’s Peter.

I hope that I can properly extol the qualities he possess that should make him every student’s ideal choice for SGA President over the next few weeks. I look forward to Peter’s term as President and the re-development of our systems to work for those who pay for them and to whom they are intended. A vote for Peter Petrin is a vote for transparency, efficiency and involvement.

– Courtney Rainey is a junior political science major and president of the Northeastern University Political Review.