by Marlon Saucedo
Current UT Student Government president and vice president, Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu, won the runoff election against Braydon Jones and Kimia Dargahi last month with 59.2 percent of the vote but without the belief that they would win. Now that the pair is in office, the question is; will the comedic duo be capable of committing to their new leadership role?
“Originally we kept thinking ‘how funny would it be if we won?’ —never seriously though,” said Rotnofsky.
Rotnofsky said that although there are formalities to uphold in office, Mandalapu and he plan to approach their term with a twist.
“There are rules and regulations that we have to follow as per the constitution and bylaws, but I think we will bring our own flair and fun to the system,” said Rotnofsky.
Rotnofsky also said that he and Rohit plan on signaling a variety of student life issues like dining options, the bus system and sustainability on campus throughout their term.
Senior and government major Rachel Meche said she believes that Rotnofsky and Mandalapu can make a positive difference during their term, even if they were following Texas Travesty tradition when they ran for the presidency. The student-run humor publication has offered candidates for the SG position since 2009.
“I’m not going to lie, at first I was a little bit concerned, especially since every year, the Travesty has put up a candidate for a comedic run. But I don’t know, I think so far their results have kind of proven that they could take this seriously,” said Meche.
Meche said that Rotnofsky and Mandalapu’s great campaign was the cornerstone for the team’s victory and that the comedic demeanor of the two could be good in a “serious situation,” like a student government term.
Computer Science students Abhinav Bannerjee and Victor Maestas said that Rotnofsky and Mandalapu’s campaign was refreshing to them because they had the intention to give relevance to social issues.
“I find that their campaign was a lot more geared towards the student population that is concerned with social issues than those concerned with, perhaps more trivial issues that don’t have anything to do with injustice or discrimination,” said Bannerjee.
Maestas said he has gained trust in Rotnofsky and Mandalapu because of their honest reasons to run for the presidency.
“I liked that they were pretty forward about everything they were gonna do. They said they were running so that they could build their resume for law school, and I thought that was funny, and I believed it too,” said Maestas. “Even though they’re being satirical and it seems as though they’re goofing around, I can tell that they’re also kind of serious behind the satire.”
Thomas Palaima, professor in the Department of Classics, said that the team brought him a flashback of a similar satirical party when he was a graduate student in the University of Wisconsin. He said that like that prankster platform of his past, he doesn’t believe the Student Government is capable of doing the school any harm.
“I don’t think that there is going to be a great deal of damage done by having these two assume office now and seeing the kinds of opportunities and responsibilities that they’re faced with, they might rise to the occasion.”
Marlon C.S. 