Student government at Stuyvesant has fallen into an unfortunate cycle of inadequacy, lack of creativity, and pure laziness. Every year, when a new group of students is elected to represent their grade, it is implied that they have earned the position and have what it takes to improve the quality of life at Stuyvesant. Unfortunately, this is quite often far from the truth. Most elected student leaders are either apathetic or incapable. They may hold a couple of events and occasionally reach out to the student body, but on the whole most students wouldn’t notice if they didn’t do a thing.

This is a culture that needs to change. In order to truly have an impact on the students, government members have to be organized, attentive, and strong-willed. Above all, they need to have concrete ideas with detailed plans to make them a reality. Unfortunately, neither ticket for Junior Caucus has indicated that they have the attributes that are necessary to have a real impact on our school.

The members of the Editorial Board believe that endorsing a candidate who does not deserve the position is equivalent of endorsing an ineffective student government. We are unwilling to support the better of the bad. Neither candidate has indicated that he or she has policies that can truly change the Stuyvesant community, and most of these merely build on the typical duties of past caucuses—planning a fun Junior Prom doesn’t count as ground-breaking. Those policies that could be considered unique to their campaign hold no weight. The ideas may make sense, but there is nothing to indicate that they could be implemented if the candidate is elected. In fact, many of the things that candidates have emphasized are more akin to wishes or desires, and cannot be considered policies. A desire to connect the student body, or a plan to do the best job possible as president indicates nothing about what a voter should expect from a candidate. It’s just empty rhetoric.

In short, these candidates promise more of the same. It’s not that they don’t care about the position—all four of the candidates have displayed a legitimate desire to help Stuyvesant. However, history has shown that this is not enough. Their ideas indicate that they haven’t truly considered what it takes to make an impact on the school, and an impact is exactly what we need right now. We’ve chosen not to endorse anyone for Junior Caucus for this election season. Candidates, let this be your wake-up call.