In a highly competitive field, Kevin Higuchi’s candor and knowledge of the internal vice president’s specific duties cuts through the clutter. With his experience as Finance Board chair, Higuchi remained neutral and maintained a professional, positive environment during a chaotic year for the board. His experience on the Finance Board provides Higuchi with the knowledge of what works and what does not. Higuchi impressed the Nexus editorial board with his honesty about the problem surrounding the one time exception policy for student group funding. While the other candidates beat around the bush, Higuchi was the only candidate to highlight Matt Jackson’s shortcomings as an internal vice president. He understands the need to reach out to the campus community, not only through publications like the Nexus, but also through organizations such as the Residence Halls Association.

Megan Klein proved to be extremely enthusiastic towards serving the UCSB community and was the Nexus’ second choice for the position. We wish we heard more from her about specific plans for improving Leg Council. Bay Grabowski demonstrated a wealth of knowledge of Robert’s Rules and Orders and we feel this would make him a very qualified parliamentarian, but he lacks the presence of a strong leader. Alex Forster was well spoken and enthusiastic but didn’t seem prepared for the duties of internal vice president. With a little more experience, he would make a good candidate in the future.