The APPLE party had their midyear conference. On the agenda: a long-discussed possible merger with Student Action, advanced by former Senator Frankenstein and cautiously supported by myself.

Not to overly bore readers with the minutae of party politics, but the essence of the deal was this: Student Action was interested in removing the irritation of a 'Reformist party,' distracting voters as well as gaining an effective Engineering party with actual ties to the Engineering community. APPLE would hypothetically gain some votes on slating decisions at the Executive level, plus two APPLE members running for Executive spots this spring. SA would promise to reform some of their shadier practices, and the Engineering party would be run by APPLE loyalists insulated from SA higher-ups.

The major worry from APPLE was that SA would quickly take control of all major decisions and absorb the Engineering part back into the fold. I argued that since Party Chair Mills had no serious interest in building the party and commanded little loyalty from APPLE Senators, this was a next-best option to probable death, especially since we would probably have APPLE people in Exec spots next year.

Long story short on the negotiations: they foundered on the rocks of old mutual distrust. By the time the vote was held on Saturday, it was generally a dead issue. The party instead pushed for a third option: handing the party over to Mr. Paganini, who established the Engineering party. Email This Post!