Letters
February 26th 2009
Re: Failing UWSA needs its own Obama
{REL[799][letter_response]jzB3K5XUREL}I thought Breanna Walls was a bit harsh on the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA) (Feb. 5 edition). I’ve been to a board meeting and I was absolutely blown away by efficiency and professionalism of the Board of Directors. Having grown up in the land of too often corrupt, unaccountable, inept and/or ineffective elected leaders (an Indian Reserve), these passionate young adults helped me to develop an ideal of what I would like to see in my home community.
I do agree that there should be new campaigns that the students can feel involved in, but what should they do? Walls seems to suggest a campaign of condemnation against the UWSA Executive, but this won’t guarantee results. Like Obama, we need to look forward to the future. They will always be problems with leadership in any organization no matter what size it is, but Obama’s popularity is due to the fact that he represents an ideal. What is our ideal for leadership in UWSA? Instead of simply condemning the elected UWSA leaders, maybe we could create a new matrix for student leaders. By taking this action, we won’t have wait for a natural born leader like Obama to emerge in the student union. I won’t join those who condemn the UWSA, but if someone wants to take more positive steps to ensure our leadership ideals are fulfilled, I’d follow them to hell and back.
Clifton Starr
UWASA General Secretary
This letter appeared in Volume 63, Number 21 of The Uniter, published February 26th 2009.
