_EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a letter to the editor written by a member of the MU community who is not part of The Maneater’s staff. It is not the opinion of The Maneater or its editorial board. In accordance with our letters policy, we publish every letter submitted to us barring personal attacks or hate speech; we welcome responses to this and everything we publish via a letter or in our comments section_
The slate opposing the incumbent [Residence Halls Association](http://rha.missouri.edu/) President Steven Chaffin and his vice-presidential running mate Nina Ruhe presented a general lack of experience and demonstrated a lack of specific knowledge last night during the extraordinarily long annual RHA Presidential debate at 6:30 p.m. in the Leadership Conference room of Pershing Hall.
Considering the length of the debate, this letter cannot cover every issue. It will instead focus primarily on two major recurring issues facing every RHA member: campus safety and sexual assault prevention.
_NOTE: Nearly 25% of all undergraduate students, or approximately 7,000 University of Missouri students, are impacted by this election. Voting begins March 4th and goes through March 5th. _
[Chaffin/Ruhe for Mizzou](http://chaffinruhe15.wix.com/elect) simply outshined Heart Mizzou, especially on the topic of campus safety. For example, when addressing the issue of campus safety, which was the number one issue Heart Mizzou claimed they wanted to address, Billy Donley’s vice-presidential running mate Rachel Thomas proposed increasing the number of blue-light emergency telephones on campus.
According to a [Maneater article](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/9/14/mu-stands-blue-lights/) from September 2010, the annual operating cost for all 214 blue-light emergency telephones on campus is a staggering $68,842 — in 2010! That number adjusted for inflation is well over $70,000 annually. Donley and Thomas should have known this through rudimentary research. Instead, Thomas proposed it as a plan of action to increase student safety on campus, demonstrating a lack of specific knowledge concerning the issue. Can RHA members trust this slate’s judgment on responsible use of student fees when they propose programs that cost students literally tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars without doing any substantial research or talking to any administrators, faculty or staff about their ideas?
On the other hand, President Steven Chaffin acknowledged this high maintenance cost and rightly pointed out that blue lights are rarely utilized by students based on research and conversations he has had with University staff. If campus safety is truly the biggest issue Donley/Thomas wish to tackle, they should have read up on this topic rather than taking a fly-by approach.
Furthermore, Donley and Thomas called for requiring 24-hour desk attendants in every residence hall as a means to increase residence hall safety. But who will foot the bill? Although I applaud the passion behind their arguments, their lack of experience glared through their rhetoric. It would cost over a quarter of a million dollars annually to pay the Desk Attendants to work approximately nine more hours per night since desks are typically staffed from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day.
Lastly, in response to a question about campus safety, Thomas linked her argument to expanding the free bike share program. How does Bike Share fit into a discussion about campus safety? How can students trust a slate that sacrifices addressing pressing student issues in order to advance their own platform — their own personal agenda? Relating to campus safety, questions were asked regarding sexual assault prevention on campus.
While both slates agreed to utilize the [Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center](http://rsvp.missouri.edu/) via its [Green Dot program](http://rsvp.missouri.edu/green-dot/) to address sexual assault prevention on campus, Donley and Thomas again demonstrated a lack of knowledge on the issue. First of all, as RHA President Chaffin pointed out, their ideas came across as focusing exclusively on Greek Life. For example, Thomas’ main argument was to partner with the RSVP Center in order to focus on Greek students. Moreover, Thomas stated that, “… every member of Greek Life starts out in a Residence Hall.”
This is a false statement. It is simply untrue. What is true is that freshmen are required to live on campus their first year — not necessarily in a Residence Hall — and many Greek students living in Greek housing their freshman year receive their own Green Dot training or have a program sponsored within their fraternity or sorority with the goal to address, prevent and ultimately eliminate sexual violence on this campus.
President Chaffin argued that Greek Life has its own programs, and RHA has its own programs as well. He believes that it is not the purview of the RHA president to focus exclusively on Greek Life — that it is instead imperative that RHA leadership focus on every RHA member, regardless of Greek affiliation, by utilizing every available resource RHA has at its disposal.
Moreover, he reiterated that RHA is currently contributing in this endeavor by financially supporting the [Missouri Students Association](http://msa.missouri.edu/) with the [“It’s On Us”](http://itsonus.org/) national sexual violence prevention campaign.
In closing, both slates exhibit ambition. However, tenacious ambition does not equate to effective leadership. For example, Billy Donley’s belief that he can have one person handle all that goes into upholding and maintaining Diversity, a Mizzou pillar, is overly ambitious. That one individual faces a herculean task. Creating a single liaison to find what Social Justice organizations would like to see out of RHA is idealistic.
President Chaffin argued that ensuring diversity is the responsibility of every RHA member, but namely that he will require Diversity Peer Education for RHA leaders, ensure increased funding for Social Justice programs on campus and forge multiple liaisons with as many Social Justice organizations as RHA can.
President Chaffin is a pragmatic leader, backed by a more than capable vice-presidential running mate Nina Ruhe.
Billy Donley stated last night, “My hall closing didn’t even stop me.” Your idealism and naivete might.
— Nick Schwartz, nrsfk6@mail.missouri.edu
