Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” As the contestants of the first Northeastern Student Government “Direct Election,” and as former student representatives that consistently asserted the will of the student body regardless of the consequences, we have done much, and we have made mistakes. Our fear is that the incumbent, Ryan Fox, has not acted decisively to assert the will of the student body.

Any student government can survey their student body on simple options and present the results to the administration, which will fund what it wishes to fund. The true test of a leader is moral courage; during crisis, a leader acts decisively and to the benefit of the community they ought to serve, even if the powers-that-be should disagree. Unfortunately, in the past year, we have not seen that sort of leadership from Ryan Fox.

During the reshuffling of the College of Criminal Justice, we did not see leadership from Ryan Fox. During the cancellation of the football program, we did not see leadership from Ryan Fox. And while 6,200 Northeastern students were “fighting” for a five year default, we did not see leadership from Ryan Fox.

We do not doubt Ryan’s ability to run a project– rather, we have great faith in his ability to orchestrate one’s execution, if he works with and not against his own team and we hope he will remain with our Student Government to do so for the student body. However, time and experience have shown that Ryan Fox will not fight for what students want if either he personally, or the administration, disagrees with it.

The same is not true of Ryan’s challenger. Amanda is a friend to many, and respectful to all. She is strong yet reasonable, compassionate yet determined, and her moral compass rings true she has the courage to fight, always, for the will of the students and that is the ultimate meter of a student body president’s worth. While we don’t agree on everything, in this election, these two old adversaries stand united in our support for Amanda Sabia.

-Joey Fiore and Chris Bourne were the contestants in the first Student Body President Direct Election in recent memory. Fiore served as Student Body President from 2007-2008, while Bourne served as SGA Vice President of Student Services from 2007-2008.