I won't mince words, Paul Slattery: you've got a very tough act to follow. But don't let it scare you. Consider it instead a golden opportunity. You inherit a stronger, more productive, more respected office than any of your predecessors. And, if you've paid a sliver of attention to the actions of the office's current occupant, then your cup runneth over.
This year, junior Elliott Wolf turned Duke Student Government into what it was long meant to be: an active lobbying organization for student interests. That goal had defeated generations of student leaders. As a result, the prevailing view of DSG until lately was that it was a do-nothing, good old boys club-a not altogether untrue picture given the history.
But things changed this year. There was commitment and continuity, a reservoir of old knowledge and a spring of new thinking. The result was real changes that grew into resolutions-not the other way around.
Leadership made all the difference. Leadership that started with the election of Elliott to the presidency. Of course, he did not work alone. He was buoyed by an energetic executive board and a talented senate. Yet if we were all headed to the same port, then Elliot was at once the captain and the compass.
Once at the helm, he sacrificed sleep and sanity for student causes. He over-scheduled himself, and then miraculously squeezed in more meetings. All the while, he kept students in the know, attracted talent from all quarters, kept his finger on the pulse of student opinion, and fought some real barnburners.
Lest we forget: he did this all in the aftermath of lacrosse-gate. A time when it would've been easy to make a case for radical changes to student life; when our dirtiest laundry was aired for all to see; when so much-tailgate, K-ville, LDOC-seemed to hang in the balance.
To be sure, everything he touched did not turn to gold, and every fight was not a knock-out. Yet he was, more than any student in recent memory, a transformative leader, and not merely a transitional one. He shaped the office where others have let it shape them-the rarest of achievements in the world of student government.
What's the secret? In part, Elliott respected some classic rules of politics:
Rule 1. Consistency is king
Review DSG's decisions and accomplishments this year and you'll see some running threads: accountability, transparency, action. In the war room, the mantra was the same: administrators mustn't try to regulate too much of our lives. Death to the development model. Overreaching must be met with deliberate speed.
Agree or disagree, every decision, every statement, every fight was etched with this patina. It endeared him to students, enraged select administrators and enlivened public debate. Most of all, it gave coherence and vision to the work of the body, a stout party line in a room full of strong-willed partisans.
Rule 2. Courage matters
Elliott made his bones on standing up where others might have sat down. From his very first moves on campus fighting OIT, he made clear that he was willing to go to bat for students at cost to himself. But this was no rouse, no electoral gimmick-it was a genuine willingness to probe, ask tough questions, speak truth to power and publish that truth when necessary.
Take your cue from this boldness. Be obtrusive. Be a gadfly. It is absolutely your job to stick noses in other people's business, because, sometimes, that business means to speak for students without hearing their voices. (Spanish benches, anyone? Strange glowing statue, anyone else? Campus Culture Initiative, anyone at all?)
Rule 3. Be scrappy but smart
A few have written him off as a rebel without a cause, but to do so would be to ignore his diplomatic success and written work. Revisit his negotiations on tailgate and E-print policy or read his many investigative columns, his position paper on alcohol, his last-ditch response to the Campus Culture Initiative report and you'll see that he is more than the sum of his contrapositions.
The lesson here? Smarts count double in a job where people are likely to cast you aside because of your youth. So do your homework, back up your statements, and remember that rabblerousing means little without skillful and diplomatic negotiation to match.
Rule 4. All politics is local
As interesting as the high-art of DSG politics can be, Elliott understood that most students care little for inside baseball. So he mastered retail politics, and the proof, as they say, is in the pudding: a reasonably safe tailgate, a keg fund, a street light, Cameron's front row returned, dining gift cards-tangible accomplishments and terrific political theater.
What to do with these nuggets? Success invites imitation, but seek to emulate, not imitate. You have your own legacy to build, after all. Good luck and God's speed.
And to Elliott: it's been an honor, Mr. President. A break and a beer are surely in order. And look me up when you're ready to run for national office. At the very least, remember us little people when you get there.
Jimmy Soni is a Trinity senior and the vice president of academic affairs for Duke Student Government.
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