The Interview: After a bitterly won election, it falls to Mary Cooper to prove her worth to the students who elected her

The Interview is an opinion page feature of reflections on extended talks with people who affect our community, written by members of the editorial board. Today, Cameron Parker writes about Student Body President-elect Mary Cooper.

It didn’t really dawn on Mary Cooper that she was student body president-elect until Saturday morning, when she got an e-mail with the words “Cooper administration.”

“No one had ever said that back to me,” she said. Before then, “Cooper administration” was a hypothetical. Now it’s the real deal.

After winning the election on Friday, it’s now up to Cooper to fashion an administration that is as productive and honorable as this election was petty.

She said she started that process the next day, when she met with Student Body President Hogan Medlin for the first of what will be a series of meetings.

They hashed out a schedule for covering all of the necessary ground before the transition. Interestingly, that process is traditionally managed by the student body secretary. Right now, that’s Ian Lee — her former opponent.

Cooper grinned when asked how that’s going to go over. She gleamed with positive regard.

“I really do respect Ian,” she said. “Working with Ian will be great.”

A bitter contest

Cooper gets points for keeping relatively positive. Yet in spite of her rosy outlook, she offered a frank diagnosis of the election. Her prescription includes some reform of the Student Code, but she also points to candidate conduct.

“Blaming things on the Code is the easiest thing,” she said. But candidates can’t hide behind it.

Cooper also suggested that the risk of negative perception was a strong disincentive to candidates coming forward about perceived violations.

But this election proved that candidates have to do a better job with conduct. Standing for principle from time to time — even in the face of bad press — might be a good place to start.

If there are any hard feelings lingering between Cooper and the other candidates, it doesn’t show. She disagreed with Lee’s refusal to step down from his office and was displeased with some of the conduct of Rick Ingram’s campaign. But Cooper is careful to balance negatives with positives.

It might be strategic. After all, Ingram and Lee could conceivably be in the Cooper administration. And enemies within the student government bubble can feel uncomfortably close.

But regardless of motivation, an attitude of reconciliation feels right after all of the drama of the election.

Moving forward

The best way for Cooper to put the election behind her is to push ahead.

Part of this means leading on the issues — but Cooper arguably performed weakly on this front. Most of the endorsements from forums went to Ingram and Lee.

Cooper, unsurprisingly, discounts the value of the various forums as an indicator of platform strength.

“It’s really interesting to see who is running the forum, and who is giving the hugs after the forum,” she said.

It’s true that a lot of politicking goes into them. But her stance on the debates — where actual platforms get debated — is a little harsh for a candidate who felt that overall, drama distracted from ideas.

Despite this, Cooper is eager for feedback. And she wants to throw herself into her new role right away.

“I want ideas coming in left and right,” she said.

Cooper has the right answers, but they are also the standard answers. Every president-elect wants to heal the divisive wounds of the campaign, to be open to ideas and ultimately to deliver. None of them usually do.

Logistically, Cooper said she wants to reach out to committees early and get buy-in.

She wants to sell committee members on her platform so that her project becomes their project, and that they will feel galvanized to spend a year implementing it.

And this time next year, Cooper wants people to think she succeeded. When asked how people should describe her administration, she answered, “Hard working. Hard working with results that they can see.

“Everyone can relate to hard work.”

Hard work is one thing, but it’s the results that matter more. Results are what student government needs.

Students need to feel like their government is advocating for their interests — and delivering. The Cooper administration has the chance to break a cycle of disappointment.

That means making student government accessible and welcoming to more than just her former opponents. It means securing student buy-in as well.

The Cooper administration has its work cut out for it.