In a trying time, there is a clear choice.

By the editors | The Minor

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a great university facing a great test. The governor, state legislature, and the board of governors seem bent on realizing a regressive, mechanistic and trivializing vision of higher education. The administration’s inability to adapt to budget constraints has students paying more for a university experience that gives them less. Perpetual academic scandal embarrasses our reputation and erodes our esteem. Lingering questions about safety and justice for the victims of sexual assault are a festering hypocrisy at the core of our progressive, humanistic values.

Great institutions stay great only when each generation accepts a charge. A charge to be not just the vanguard, but the author of what legacy it holds dear. New challenges demand scholarship of the past, ownership of the present, and stewardship of the future. Only marshaled by an extraordinary leader can this group of students, those of us here and now, meet the challenges of our day. In a democratic system, the choice of who will lead is ours to make. For the sake of UNC, we must make the right one.

In the 2014 student body president election, The Minor endorses the only clear path forward: the run-off.

The run-off has proven itself a winner in election after election in the past. It has shown a clear willingness to work with people on all sides of the most pressing issues, and it has not indulged in the empty rhetoric and vague, sweeping promises that characterize so many campaigns. The run-off is tangible. The run-off is now.

Despite it’s disposition to avoid the limelight, the run-off has been the consistent favorite of the most knowledgeable observers of this election season. Even as they have advocated for their own platforms, most of the candidates have expected the run-off to triumph. Some have even spoken hopefully of the run-off prevailing. This hope is well earned, as the run-off has always welcomed the best ideas that competition has to offer.

There are, of course, some who disparage the run-off. They accuse it of indecisiveness and even misguidedly associate it with waterway pollution. But with remarkable poise, the run-off refuses to tarnish its reputation by stooping in response to its attackers.

The run-off can be trusted to make the most prudent choices for the future of this university. It will be effective from the moment it is elected, and it will have the humility to step aside as soon as students decide they prefer the leadership of another. In 2014, the run-off will see us to greatness.

We need strong, practical leadership. We need the run-off.