EDITORIAL: In ASG Election, Andrew Jackson Must Drop Out

This year’s field of ASG presidential candidates is full of students with a variety of ideas, platforms and qualifications to hold Northwestern’s highest elected office. And then, there’s Andrew Jackson.

For those who don’t know, our nation’s seventh president is apparently mounting an insurgent campaign for ASG president, as publicized by flyering, chalking, a Facebook fan page and an active Twitter account. While we are immensely flattered that a former U.S. president would run for ASG, we at The Ave can no longer ignore his horrific record of human rights violations and therefore must call on Andrew Jackson to drop out of the race for ASG president immediately.

Jackson is running as “The People’s President,” a moniker he earned for his populist style of campaigning and governing. Yet this slogan begs the question: which people? Surely if we are to be #OneNorthwestern then we must recognize that our ASG president must have respect for all members of our community.

Jackson, however, does not appear to share this belief. As President, Old Hickory ordered the “relocation” of tens of thousands of Native Americans living in the southeastern United States. Along the Trail of Tears that these persecuted people were forced to travel, many died and more were injured or traumatized. Families were torn apart. Children suffered immensely. The horrors of this aspect of Jackson’s presidency outweigh even the agony of missing the Campus Loop and being forced to walk to Tech.

But surely the blame does not fall only on Jackson, right? The other branches of government must have joined with the bloody, bloody man to carry out this despicable feat? No. No, no no. Take a fucking history class. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled that the Native Americans had as much right to stay on their lands as Northwestern students have the right to use the term “elite institution” when asked if they attend an Ivy League school.

Yet Jackson, in a move that could be a frightening foreshadowing of what his governing style as ASG president would be, failed to heed the Supreme Court’s ruling and continued to oversee the forced removal of an entire population.

In other words, Andrew Jackson’s actions as president have disqualified him from consideration for ASG president. It is time now for Jackson to bow out in disgrace and leave this campus.