Matthew FitzGerald
By Editorial Board
April 20, 2015 12:08 a.m.
Matthew FitzGerald’s concerning lack of vision for the office and vague, almost nonexistent platforms are a detriment to his candidacy and would be a detriment to his tenure as a member of the Graduate Students Association.
For that reason, this board does not endorse FitzGerald for vice president of external affairs.
FitzGerald presented numerous platforms to the board, some of which are reasonably worthy goals to pursue – his commitment to rejoining the University of California Student Association and increasing communication and collaboration with the undergraduate student government, for example.
But many others, in their wide scope, were troublingly vague: “advocating on the plight of the graduate and professional student” and “doing more on the alumni side and UC Academic Senate issues,” to name two.
More concerning than the vagueness of his platforms, however, was his inability to articulate with any specificity how he would accomplish any of his goals. When pressed for details about how he would go about effecting change in any of the areas that concerned him, FitzGerald provided some rough suggestions that clearly had not been thought out in advance. His central plan seemed to be improving communication, but beyond simply asking people to do what he wanted, he offered few solutions.
It should be noted that advocacy and communication are large parts of the office of the vice president of external affairs, and those strategies should not be discounted. FitzGerald has a fair amount of experience with student government as an active member of the Drug-Free Schools Committee and a former member of the student government at the University of Washington, where he helped implement a universal transportation pass for students. He has also clearly been closely following GSA’s activity and was able to suggest some sensible improvements, such as keeping the GSA calendar and website updated with all current events.
But FitzGerald lacked any specific strategy for his advocacy and, for that reason, emerged as a weaker candidate than his opponent Andres Schneider, who, despite his imperfections, has proven his ability to navigate the office and implement his goals as the vice president for external affairs.
