In a ranked-choice vote, The Quad news staff officially elected Julien Padillo and Ali Kochik as editor-in-chief and managing editor to serve for the 2021–22 academic year.
On March 23, current Editor-in-Chief Brendan Lordan led a virtual Q&A session with the three running candidates for both aforementioned positions: Op-Ed Section Editor Ali Kochik, Managing Editor Julien Padillo and Assistant Op-Ed Editor Kyle Gombosi. Participants that attended the session included staff writers and editorial board members, as well as advisor and journalism professor Dr. Benjamin Kuebrich.
The candidates responded to a wide range of topics that emerged throughout the session: what their leadership style will look like to support staff, improvements to current policies and procedures, sustainability efforts to prevent wasted paper copies, diversification of staff, as well as the development of strategies to bring in writers from non-English and communications backgrounds.
“In terms of the content that we put out every week, there is something really to be said for the depth of the perspectives we can capture when we get students from across all majors involved,” said Kochik in her speech for the managing editor position.
Both Padillo and Kochik have a long-running history in journalism, finding their love for the craft while working for their highschool newspapers.
“Back then, I had earned the position of editor-in-chief my senior year, and accomplishing the same in college here at WCU’s The Quad feels like a real ‘full circle’ moment,” said Padillo.
Padillo’s focus for next year is to “strengthen [The Quad’s] digital presence, connect more with people and create a more perfect paper.” She wants to further utilize The Quad’s social media and make this “a news account of its own” by posting campus-wide announcements, creating shareable infographics and, soon, in-person sports updates. As a long-term goal, she added that investing in a SoundCloud account or podcasting software will minimize the need for multiple free accounts and have everything in one place, allowing the Quadcasts to further develop.
For Kochik, who adamantly serves the West Chester community in a variety of roles — a radio host for WCUR, op-ed writer and section editor for The Quad, Peer Educator at the Center for Women & Gender Equity, former staff writer at Her Campus and current host of her virtual book club on the CWGE Instagram page — adding the role of managing editor to her expansive resume of journalism work will be nothing less than promising.
“I’m so beyond excited about this new position, and I’m so touched that I was even nominated, let alone elected,” said Kochik. “I’ve already had such amazing experiences working with the people at The Quad over the last three years; I’m so eager to do it again in this new position and make next year as wonderful as I know it can be.”
In previous Quad bylaws, voting was done via simple majority or “First Past the Post,” a system historically used in elections for the U.S. presidency. However, Lordan raised his concern with the voting model, citing that in the case of the 2020 presidential election when people feared that Democratic votes would be split by Bernie Sanders supporters and allow former president Donald Trump to become re-elected, “This system can fail to represent the actual will of the people.”
Lordan proposed that The Quad adopt the ranked-choice vote, a system in which voters select candidates by order of preference. The election is determined by “instant runoff,” where candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated, and “if no single candidate wins a first-round majority of the votes, then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and another round of vote tallying commences… Eventually one candidate receives a majority (over 50%) and wins the election,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
It was then decided, after a poll was sent to The Quad editorial board, that the former bylaw would be replaced with the new voting system.
When the university closed down in spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Padillo and Lordan were challenged to find ways to redesign the format of the The Quad newspaper to an online and more accessible format: The Quad Abridged, a vibrant, student-led virtual magazine that has been successful for all involved in the publication.
“I believe what I am looking forward to most is the tangibility of it all,” said Padillo. “The Quad is more than just a staff, or a group of people with an interest in journalism: it is a community, one that I love being a part of. We are lucky to be an organization that has remained strong during this time.”
With the news of West Chester University opening back up in-person for the 2021–22 year, Padillo and Kochik are ready to work together alongside The Quad’s current and incoming news staff for another year of impactful stories to share with the local community.
“There’s something special about being in the same space and sharing an experience with one another,” said Padillo. “I can’t wait for when we are able to safely bring that kind of environment back.”
Currently, multiple positions on the editorial board will soon be open for students to apply for, including but not limited to: news editor, sports editor, entertainment editor, online editor, multimedia and assistant multimedia editor, distribution manager, etc. Interested students are encouraged to join The Quad Discord server for the latest updates.
Sources:
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/ranked-choice-voting636934215.aspx
Nikki Haslett is a fourth-year English major with a minor in Journalism. NH890081@wcupa.edu