Daum Puts Femininity To Good Use

She wears makeup, she giggles, and she can be found uptown on weekend nights, hitting the bar scene in true Chapel Hill style.

There were even rumors floating around last February that her looks and natural flirtatiousness helped her rouse a good portion of the male student population into making their ways to the polls.

But six months into her role as the most powerful student leader on campus, Jen Daum has proved that she has effectively filtered her femininity into a style of leadership that has built student government into a stronger, more cohesive force than in years past.

This was clearly evident at the first inter-branch State of the University Address that student government leaders held last week.

Although the event was poorly publicized and fell far short of its potential to engage the student body in a dialogue with its leaders, the internal strength of student government became clear as Student Attorney General Amanda Spillman, Speaker of Student Congress Tony Larson, Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Branson Page and Daum each delivered their respective updates.

At the event -- which was the first of its kind to bring together all three branches of student and the GPSF -- the four leaders exchanged banter, laughed at each other's jokes and just generally seemed interested in what the others had to say.

Larson even went so far as to dedicate a portion of his speech to the marked difference it makes when the leaders within student government work together, saying, "Even when we have differences of opinion, we are still on the same team. This is not to say that student government leaders have not or do not bring their party identification to the job or pander to segments of the student body for support -- what I am saying that these practices are a disservice to the student body, and this stage of leaders has recognized that."

This spirit of collaboration and support would not have been possible without Daum's work to discourage egos and encourage cooperation through such actions as requiring executive branch committee leaders to work with the GPSF on similar projects.

Study after study has been done analyzing the different approaches men and women take to management and leadership, and one of the most consistent qualities that comes out in female leadership is this emphasis on collaboration.

Another quality that is often assigned to female leadership is a focus on emotion in regards to empathy and the ability to relate to others.

Although Daum's platform issues and the priorities she laid out in her State of the University Address cover a broad range of topics, it's clear that Daum's heart lies in the empathetic causes.

Daum would get noticeably riled last year when talking about graduate students' right to funding for child care and about women's right to feel safe at all times on campus.

This year she has actively taken on the issue of disability access, forcing modifications to the new Student Union, and she has required all of her Cabinet members to go through training for Safe Zone, a program that encourages people to be allies to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students.

And although Daum has also dedicated time to lobbying the General Assembly about budget concerns and co-chairing the Tuition Task Force, one can tell that her passion does not reside in those causes.

The question then is whether Daum's priorities are in the right places and whether her female style of leadership services the entire student body.

It seems, however, that her focus on collaboration and more emotion-based matters has not caused her to ignore harder fiscal concerns; she just goes over and above what is called for on the issues with which she personally connects.

So let the girl have her mascara and her bubbly giggle. This girl has proved that she does more than just want to have fun.

Karey Wutkowski can be reached at karey@email.unc.edu.