Yell leaders Jonathan Lusk and Tim Bailey are busy campaigning for re-election, but have ignored the most important rule of leadership: being accountable to those they serve. Despite a University investigation into allegations of hazing among the yell leaders, Lusk and Bailey, who hold one of the most visible student leadership positions on campus, refuse to answer questions about their involvement.
Lusk and Bailey are asking students to trust them with their votes, but they have an obligation to come clean with students about any possible wrongdoing for which they could be sanctioned.
It is not just current yell leaders who could face hazing sanctions. A separate investigation into Parsons Mounted Cavalry could taint other candidates.
Corps yell leader nominees John Magruder and Paul Terrell also owe students an explanation. Along with Lusk, they are members Parsons Mounted Cavalry, which is under investigation for hazing. Some 30 cadets, or half of the unit, will face a Student Life disciplinary panel and could receive sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion from the University. A Corps investigation concluded that juniors had been hazing sophomores by hitting them with axe handles and forcing them to perform exercises in a pit of urine and horse manure.
Before casting their vote, students deserve to know whether Lusk, Bailey, Magruder and Terrell are being charged with hazing. If the candidates are not, they will eliminate any suspicion by addressing the issue publicly. If they are being charged with hazing, the candidates should tell students their side of the story. University officials are prohibited from releasing this information, but the candidates face no such restraint.
Leadership means being held to a higher standard, and the continued refusal of Lusk, Bailey, Magruder and Terrell to publicly address the hazing allegations swirling around them makes these candidates unfit to represent the student body.