I have to question Christian Hoeffel's intent in his Aug. 27 letter. He begins his letter by questioning how the Sophomore Class Officers have handled their positions so far. However, he ignores anything that the Council has actually done and focuses completely on their choices for the rest of the Class Council.
Hoeffel brings up how, after leading "one of the most active and successful committees in our class council," he was denied the opportunity to serve his class again. Worst of all, he was replaced by someone "without previous council experience." Well, if Hoeffel could have done such a wonderful job leading the Spiritual Council last year without any experience, I have the utmost confidence in this year's spiritual commissioner. It is possible that new members of the council possess the necessary abilities to be effective.
Hoeffel also mentions how the representation of the dorms is uneven. First of all, I'm sure if someone from one of the dorms that is not represented had a concern, the council would listen to it. Furthermore, Hoeffel is assuming that to get a fair cross-section of students from Notre Dame's campus you need to have each dorm represented. That is simply not true; because dorm assignments are completely random, you could fill every Class Council position with people from a single dorm and still have a diverse group of qualified people.
The final point of Hoeffel's letter is that, because the dorms are not evenly represented, the class officers must have filled the Council positions with their friends. Therefore, the Council is not objective enough to lead efficiently. The ticket he worked on, however, would not have done this. I'm sure that, had the ticket Hoeffel worked on won, he would have refused a spot on the Council on the grounds that he is their friend and that would make their leadership inefficient.
It is only one week into the new academic year. It is far too early to be judging the Sophomore Class Council's effectiveness. However, if the Late Night Grill is any indication, we are in for a great year.
Ryan Bravo
Fisher Hall
sophomore
Aug. 30
