by Janie Robbins
Spring session in Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature means elections. Each chamber is electing new leadership, including Speaker of the House and President Pro tempore of the Senate. OIL governor Jacob Murphy has done an amazing job this past year, but as his term ends, the organization is looking for someone that will help it become what members have always wanted it to be: respected.
This election season, everyone is focusing on the governor’s race between Parliamentarian Brian Hughes and Chief Justice Chase Maxwell. Hughes is a nontraditional student from Rose State College. He makes his presence known in the House of Representatives and is always willing to help out zero stars, or anyone that may need some assistance. Maxwell, a student from the University of Oklahoma, has ran the court flawlessly.
“The biggest difference between the two is their age,” a representative said. “I think some people are worried about Maxwell not taking things seriously but then others believe that Hughes is too traditional.”
Since the moment the race began, there was a very obvious divide among delegates, those that were voting for Hughes and those that were voting for Maxwell. With the United States presidential elections coming up as well, it seems as though people have been more passionate about this election than any other in recent years.
The trend seems to be that Hughes is the conservative option while Maxwell seems to be the favorite among liberals. Which adds a bit of humor to the comments being made comparing Chase Maxwell to Mr. Donald Trump.
Delegates who attended session in the fall may remember Maxwell’s famous speech which has been referred to as the “Trump Speech” where he made several pokes at the Oklahoma State University delegation, saying that a wall needs to be built around the OSU campus in order to make OIL great again. Many delegates took this as a reference to the known rivalry between OSU and OU. But, many people were greatly offended by his comments, especially members of the OSU delegation, many of whom left the chamber in tears. Needless to say, feelings were hurt and toes were stepped on. While offensive to some, this speech may have gotten Maxwell the fan-base he needed in order to prevail in the election.
Hughes has done everything he could to avoiding offending members of the delegation. Many fear he is not going to take enough risks to bring the organization back from its recent downfall.
Both have commented on how they would like to rebuild the journalism program into something that is more appreciated by the organization as a whole by distributing articles and bringing the program out into the open.
But the question here is who to vote for? Some say that there is no good choice, others are pushing for a certain candidate.
Who will you vote for?