Driskell and Council Shift Left

After two years of leadership of the Undergraduate Council by Beth A. Stewart '00 and Noah Z. Seton '00, the candidate that they endorsed for president this year--Sterling P.A. Darling '01--seemed like a sure thing.

Darling, who is Republican and describes himself as a conservative like Stewart and Seton, not only had wide support on the council going into the race , but he had gained considerable experience running Seton's campaign the year before.

But at the end of voting, Fentrice D. Driskell '01 and her running mate John A. Burton '01, both self-avowed liberals, handily beat the other candidates.

And according to some observers of the council, the candidates' personal political beliefs may have meant the difference in this race--one which had few polarizing issues in the forefront.

Darling credits increased initiative on the part of liberal groups as giving Driskell and Burton a leg up in the election.

"It seemed that this year there was a greater degree of involvement by the people involved in [liberal] groups, as opposed to last year," he says.

He says Driskell was able to offer something his campaign could not--a commitment both to improving student services and a willingness to address political issues through the council.

"Trying to do both things--have a very student oriented platform while still trying to appeal to a liberal group on campus--is a very appealing platform," he says.

According to Shai M. Sachs '01, a council member from Leverett House who is active in the liberal community at Harvard, it was easy to get excited about Driskell's vision.

"There was an outpouring of energy this year," says Sachs, who is also a Crimson editor.

That outpouring came, in part, in the form of endorsements by traditionally liberal campus groups, such as The Perspective and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence.

Darling, whose only official group endorsement came from the Republican Club, says the significant student group support added momentum to his opponents' campaign.

"I think that definitely helped," Darling says.

In the Past

But in past years, more conservative council candidates have benefited from a backlash against what some saw as a connection between liberal leadership and a divided council that focused more on problems in Burma than those of student shuttle busses to Logan.

According to Republican Club President C.J. Mahoney '00, the club has in past years thrown its support behind conservative candidates not necessarily for their political beliefs but as an attempt to move the council away from the liberal activism prevalent under former president Lamelle D. Rawlins' '99.

"It was less about getting a conservative in and more about changing the Council from the progressive agenda in the past," he says.

The distaste for that type of activism was great enough to spur the foundation of a group known to Seton and other council insiders as "the cabal."

The group was created four years ago by council members who were united in support of the candidacies of Eric M. Nelson '99 and Joe Sena '99 for council president and vice president, and tired of spending "endless hours debating legislation that had little or no effect on the student body," Seton says.

The cabal remained intact the following year and rallied behind Stewart and her running-mate Samuel C. Cohen '00, both of whom went on to win the election.

Although the cabal--which Seton says is now more of a group of friends--also assisted Darling in his campaign.

Politics Aside

But without many of those typically liberal issues--such as ethnic studies or faculty diversity--at play in this year's race, it was harder to make a distinction between the candidates.

"This year, the race was very apolitical compared to past years," says John Paul Rollert '00, a four-year council member who, despite being liberal, has supported Stewart and Seton in the past. "Beth Stewart was known as the [council] candidate who worked for Newt Gingrich," he says.

Darling too may have been hurt by a view among students that he was too closely tied with Stewart and Seton.

"I think that part of it was that Sterling was following a trajectory setup by Seton and Stewart...and he was perceived as part of the UC leadership of the past," says outgoing council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00. "I think that people were ready for a change."

And although Sachs says liberal groups and their members tend to be less interested in council politics, he says that Driskell and Burton may have benefited by a latent desire among them to see one of their own in power.

After all, "there's always a push to get a liberal elected," he says.