As John Magnino and Leland Pan face off for a seat on the Dane County Board, both claim they will bring the student voice to the little-known governmental body. The Daily Cardinal appreciates both candidates’ perceived need for student input at the county level. We want someone with practical ideas to champion campus causes. We need a representative to expand student input further than their one seat. And we want someone to do this while promoting a positive student image. Magnino is that candidate.
Magnino recognizes what are truly student issues. As a UW tour guide, Magnino said the biggest concern prospective students and their families voice is student safety. With muggings and sexual assaults headlining our paper every week, this issue’s importance is undeniable. While mainly a city issue that is out of the county’s jurisdiction, Magnino identified where the county can assist in making our campus safer. Noting the infamous murder of student Brittany Zimmermann, Magnino believes one way the board could help is to improve the current county-run police dispatch system that is often accused of failing to help Brittany. Magnino also noted the importance of the drug court as a way to prosecute non-violent crimes in a humane, effective manner.
While we admire Pan’s idealism and fiery activism, his platform issues do not align with his goal to “empower the student voice.” As a member of the Dane County Board, Pan said he would focus on the environment, protecting undocumented workers and anti-privatization. While Pan’s goals are well-intentioned and thought out, they are more aligned with public sector unions, WISPIRG, Student Labor Action Coalition and other leftist student groups, but not the student body as a whole.
Magnino has concrete plans to institutionalize the student voice within the county board by creating a Joint City-County-Campus Committee. The committee, consisting of city alders, student representatives and other campus stakeholders, would serve as an open forum to address student issues. Furthermore, Magnino would promote the student voice by having more student voices on county committees.
If both candidates want the student voice taken more seriously at the county level, they must also be taken seriously as individuals. Pan has a track record of posting vulgar Facebook statuses about campus officials and setting a profile picture of himself holding defaced campaign signs while making suggestive gestures. Although Pan regrets his past actions, we worry he is not mature enough for the position. If we wish to instill a serious student perspective on the board, we cannot risk electing someone who may trivialize students by lashing out at a disagreeable board member.
In a race where seemingly no students even know what the sought-after position does, one major step to empowering the student voice is by clueing them into why the Dane County Board matters in the first place. Magnino plans—and has already started—to reach across campus to engage a diverse population of students from the Greek community to College Republicans to the Queer Law Society. With plans to work extensively with WISPIRG and other campus activist groups, Pan would mobilize no more than the campus’s usual suspects.
Considering his pragmatic approach to tackling student issues and his right personality to promote a healthy public discourse, The Daily Cardinal endorses John Magnino for Dane County Board, District 5.
Who do you think deserves a seat on the Dane County Board? Let us know what you think about the candidates by sending in a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
