Profile of Plants-Wikler

At 10:15 Wednesday night, Todd E. Plants '01 mounts the fourth floor of Holworthy Hall to begin an evening of campaigning. Like other candidates for the Undergraduate Council presidency, Plants is focused on winning first-year votes.

Relaxed as ever in sneakers and jeans, bearing his ever-present clipboard, Plants explains why he always starts at the top of each entryway: "It's easier to motivate yourself going down."

Plants and his vice presidential running-mate Benjamin M. Wikler '03 are working hard to get their message out, collecting signatures from dorm rooms and dining halls. By gathering students' signatures, Plants and Wikler can add them to their campaign e-mail list.

The two say their focus on student involvement is what distinguishes them from the other candidates.

"If I win, and you ask me in January what's the most important thing I can accomplish, I would say, to get 10 more ways students can make policy at the University," says Plants, who is a Crimson editor.

"I realize that this is not the juiciest or sexiest thing for a legacy," he says. "However, it is important to have the people affected involved in decisions."

Despite the general perception, Plants says, College leadership is open to student participation. He says his own work on the council, mostly chairing the council's University Information Service (UIS) task force, has allowed him to affect change at Harvard, by lowering phone rates, for example.

"Any good administrator is interested in what students say, although they may not agree with them," Plants says. "It is a matter of saying 'we want a student voice' and setting up procedures."

More generally, the Plants/Wikler platform attempts to straddle the ideological divide between progressive politics and student services; they hope to appeal to a broad constituency.

As a three-term council representative, Plants has often spoken for progressive issues, such as banning dining hall grapes and endorsing same-sex marriage laws. He is also a council "progressive" in the tradition of former council presidents Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 and Robert M. Hyman '98. Plants has criticized initiatives to cut the council's size, shorten debates and limit the role of the council to student services.

But now, although the progressive Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA) has endorsed Plants, he and Wikler are talking more about student services than hate-crime legislation.

As first-years stand in their doorways, he tells them how he plans to improve academic advising and student group funding.

"The most important thing the council can do is student services," Plants says. "But I think we often confuse most with only. It's so easy to limit yourself too much. My student government has no limits."

And the ideas flooding out of the Plants-Wikler campaign headquarters at Greenough 103 seem limitless in scope. Build a student center. Set up workout facilities in the Yard. "Establish a women's center." "Rock concerts in Sanders." "Cheap cell phones."

Some of these proposals spring from the candidates' extracurricular involvement. Wikler's interest in improved athletic facilities stems from his involvement in first-year heavyweight crew. Plants' technology proposals are linked to his job as an Eliot House User Assistant. Both are active in theatre groups that they would like to support with more funds and space.

These might seem like broad goals, but to his credit, Plants has shown he can get results. Last year, he worked with UIS to create a new student phone plan. He doesn't mince words about his success. "I lowered the phone rates," he says. Now he is trying to convince the University to offer a cellular plan, too.

His running mate also boasts extensive leadership experience.

As a high school junior in Madison,Wis., he led a push to get a student on his school board. As a senior, he spoke to the Wisconsin legislature and lobbied successfully for increased school aid--which ultimately amounted to $20 million.

Some council members fear that Plants' tendency to speak his mind could get in the way as president.

"He has a definite vision for the U.C…. He criticizes the council as a whole if they don't have the same vision, and that can alienate people sometimes," says Alexander A. Boni-Saenz '01, a fellow Eliot House council member. "He is a person with strong viewpoints. He will express those viewpoints in any context--not just when it's the best way to unite people and get things done."

Plants says his history of speaking out proves he takes the forum seriously. "I've tried very hard to be a good U.C. member," Plants says. "You're not always happy with best U.C. members, but at the end of the day you respect them."

Some colleagues on the council agree--he is outspoken, but he also garners respect. "Todd will not back down on issues that he feels strongly about. People are sometimes frustrated, but always admire Todd because he's honest," says John P. Rollert '00, a council member who has worked closely with Plants.

Plants and Wikler are campaigning ambitiously: 7 a.m. postering in the Yard, tabling during meals, science-center events featuring Wikler's girlfriend on stilts and recordings of Fatboy Slim, and endless door-to-door runs.

They have collected over 800 signatures so far. And as Plants reaches the bottom of Holworthy, he runs into another potential supporter. "I already signed your thing," she says as he opens his mouth. "I even got your e-mail."

"Great," Plants replies, and turns to a door that has just opened up across the hall. "Do you have a minute?"