Justin Brugman and Drew Janego were likely choices for Associated Students of NMU (ASNMU) president and vice president because of their experience with ASNMU in the past. Both have been a part of the organization for two years and have had a variety of positions and experiences within the organization. We feel their victory is good and bad.

The good: Students can know that ASNMU is run by competent and aware representatives. These men know what is expected of them within ASNMU, the history of what has happened, and, logistically, what works and what doesn’t. They won’t have to spend the majority of the first couple of weeks figuring out what ASNMU is all about – they already know. We hope that this makes it so that Brugman and Janego can be truly active and progressive in their work for the voice of students since they know what is expected of them.

The bad: Brugman and Janego, with the amount of experience they do have, run the risk of remaining within the status quo of ASNMU. Many students feel that ASNMU isn’t doing enough to represent students, and more can be done with innovative and creative ideas for reaching out to students. This is a chance for Brugman and Janego, who know what hasn’t worked with ASNMU in the past, to make drastic yet effective changes to regular operations.

Though we understand the intent behind their ideas to create a committee to monitor ASNMU’s work in the university, we fear that this will create more red tape between students and ASNMU. If ASNMU keeps getting caught up in committees, students will not benefit from what their student government could do for them. This is something we hope the winners will avoid when they consider how they want to run ASNMU next year.

Especially in tough economic times, it’s important that students’ voices are heard. It is crucial for ASNMU to raise to its potential and make change. We hope Brugman and Janego are able to do this for NMU students.