Posted by Adam W. in Questions for the Candidates - Favoritism
These are questions for all candidates.

On August 13, 2017, Jerome posted the following in Command as part of a longer post, stating that no one seemed to be getting that this is a problem:

“We tell people to do one thing and do another when someone in the President’s clique, or the FCOMM’s clique or the cool kids clique gets offended.”

In the post Jerome had also explained his perspective that this had been a problem for several years and had caused many members to quit.

Do you personally believe favoritism has been a significant problem in STF in the past couple years? Why or why not?

How will you avoid favoritism as an executive?

If you view cliques as a problem, are you more immune to their effects than others? If so, why?

Adam W.

I’ve only been back in STF for about 15 months now, but I don’t feel like favoritism has been a huge problem. I’ve seen some streaks of it here and there, but it’s nothing that really concerns me. To me, the best way to avoid cliques and favoritism is an issue is transparency. When the club can see the reasoning behind the decisions made, it provides (1) an important educational opportunity on “the way we do things” and (2) an important vector for feedback to be provided.

As President previously, I once had to make a very contentious decision that could have been viewed as favoritism just simply because of the people involved in it. The edict containing the decision was, thereby, one of my longest across that 18 months, stepping through each part of my decision individually. It truly helped to make sure that people understood the reasoning and that any debate was on the merits of the decision, not on the people involved.

On a personal level, I find the idea of cliques to be exhausting and anxiety-inducing. I’m not someone who wants to only have people around me who agree with me and, frankly, I’d prefer to be on friendly terms with just about everyone in the club. This is intended to be a respite from the stress of “real life” and I try to keep that as forefront in my personal interactions.

• Sarah