If Chris Friend is elected AAS President on Thursday, it will be due to his two years of dedicated work on the AAS to support issues that matter to students. Chris is the type of candidate this school needs. He is running on a strong platform, with ideas for policy changes that are creative and responsive to student needs. Amherst needs an AAS President who is not afraid to stand up to administrators. His recent article calling for the resignation of Suzanne Coffey due to her conflict of interest in heading up the Title IX committee show this strength.
Amherst deserves a candidate who has worked his way up through the AAS, gaining experience and understanding of how this school runs along the way. Nowhere is this experience more clear than in Chris’s candidate platform. As President he intends to ensure more substantial and continued funding for the Women’s Center and the Multicultural Resource Center. His plans to build a well-functioning school calendar and redesign Amherst Scrutiny will provide clear and substantive improvements in the lives of Amherst students.
Policy aside, Chris is a great person for the job. People who know Chris know him as someone genuinely engaged in Amherst. He maintains friendships with students all across the school. He is sociable. These diverse interests come out in his platform as well. He has plans for improvements in athletics, clubs and academics alike.
Chris has also experienced the difficulties that come with throwing a party on campus, seen the strained relationship between students and campus police develop and is dedicated to strengthening what is now an oppositional relationship between the two groups. Beer-pong table confiscations and breakups of tame parties is a new policy that must be fought by the leader of the AAS.
Chris will also follow through with the promises he makes during the campaign. He is a man of his word and if elected, he will make the changes that he has promised. He will devote his time and energy to improving the campus. He is always open to new ideas and will be willing to listen to the student body. In the two and half years that I have known him, I have seen him actively engaging with and contributing to the Amherst Community. I believe he will be able to successfully liaise between the student body and the administrators to ensure campus issues are addressed. I am voting for Chris because he understands Amherst and what it needs and has the capability to improve it.
Chris' greatest strength is his tenacity. Read his article about the Title IX coordinator. Instead of reactionary, his article was level-headed and on point. Chris really put himself out there when he knew that there could be huge backlash (eg Professor Dumm).
*When something really needed to be done, Chris did it.*
That's a risk I haven't seen the other candidates take. I think Chris' style of engaging the most important problems on campus make him the best candidate.
Being someone that has known Chris for a number of years, I feel like I can give an accurate description of his character. However, all of that has been said in this article, except for one thing; his dedication. Chris is one of the most dedicated and self-motivated individuals that I have ever met. Chris genuinely cares about Amherst, and with that care, he will work day and night until the changes he wants are made at the college. He is tough, but fair. Strong, but compassionate. Chris Friend is the best person you could elect as AAS President. Go to one of the Finance Committee meetings, you'll see that he is a natural leader and is a natural fit for the job.
No one goes harder for the Amherst Student Body than Chris Friend.
Word.