This letter represents the view of Old Gold & Black Deputy Editor Skyler Villamar-Jones and Managing Editor Andrew Braun, not the Old Gold & Black.
This year’s Student Government election was dense with information. For four executive positions — President, Speaker of the House, Secretary and Treasurer — 10 candidates ran individual campaigns and shared their unique goals for the future of Wake Forest.
It is undoubtedly important to vote for the Student Government executive team. It is important to follow each candidate’s campaign to make an informed decision. However, the Old Gold & Black recognizes it is time-consuming and intimidating to understand the platform of each candidate. To ease this, the Old Gold & Black publishes an annual endorsement for each executive position.
Ahead of the elections, the Old Gold & Black’s executive board sat down with all 10 candidates. During each interview, we made an effort to understand each candidate’s unique experiences, perspectives and goals for improving different areas of campus. Through this process, our team gained a deeper appreciation for the real potential that our leaders in Student Government have to create positive change.
The Old Gold & Black’s purpose in this election was two-fold: first, provide students — the voters — with an opportunity to hear from and get to know their candidates. To do this, we published pitches from each candidate on our website and social media for the student body to reflect on when making their own informed decision.
The second was to endorse the candidates whom our executive committee determined would be best equipped to take on the tasks of their respective positions. Asking each candidate the same questions, our executive committee factored in each individual’s leadership experience and articulated policy goals when making our endorsements.
As journalists, our foremost loyalty remains to the public and the electorate, and providing them with all of the information that we can to foster a thriving democracy. The Old Gold & Black felt a duty to fulfill this obligation and provide candidates an opportunity to speak with their constituents.
Instead, our endorsements intended to spark important conversations about candidates that are crucial to make the most informed decisions on election day.
We hope that student voters found themselves engaged in these discussions critical to our democracy. In any election, we encourage students to consider all the information available to them.
