When Maday eventually conceded, I breathed a sigh of relief that her transphobic rhetoric wouldn’t be finding its way into board meetings. But can we get our hopes up for the people that did win?

MSU administration has been allergic to escaping controversy for years, and with board Chair Dan Kelly exiting, the MSU board of the Larry Nassar controversy era has been replaced by completely new faces. But where there might have been hope for a new era, the current trustees still can’t seem to get away from the controversial culture that they so often claim to have the answers to. It’s the same culture our new trustees will be joining. 

Balow’s presence at MSU has undoubtedly been felt by anyone who’s stepped foot in a Board of Trustees meeting recently. He told The State News that he’s attended every board meeting in the last four years. Balow, the self-described “ninth trustee,” made sure to do something his Democratic opponents failed to do: campaign.

It wasn’t perfect, as his calls for more transparency are nothing new from board candidates, and his desire to ‘keep tuition affordable’ has shown to be nothing new either. But his calls for transparency are backed by his identification of what he’s called a "green wall of silence" and his support for more board meetings. Similarly, his desire to bring back the swim and dive team is backed by prior fundraising. He and other advocates tried to get the team reinstated while Teresa Woodruff was interim president, though the fundraiser fell short of its $26.5 million goal.

In other words, Balow is doing the bare minimum of what should be expected of a political candidate. He goes to the meetings and his policies address relevant issues like Title IX, something MSU administration continues to struggle with. His victory is a small breath of fresh air for a community that has watched the bar for leadership fall to the floor.

I have a little bit of hope for Balow. It’s a bit harder to say the same for Rebecca Bahar-Cook.

Her campaign relied on the familiar promises of transparency that board candidates have frequently harped on — with the familiar lack of details. Her website features a bio, a short paragraph with some vague promises and a long list of endorsements from Michigan Democrats.

She’s previously said "My race will be won by the party who wins Michigan." The Democratic party didn’t win Michigan, but Bahar-Cook was right: relying on blue votes worked.

In Bahar-Cook, I see a trustee who will continue to uphold the status quo, a common theme with Democrats in this year’s election cycle. And perhaps more concerningly, her lack of willingness to discuss divestment and her desire to "support our allies" is a step in the wrong direction from any progress student activists have made, moving instead to the ‘institutional neutrality’ stance that MSU is teetering toward.

But when it comes to what I actually think she will do on the board, I found myself running into another issue: I don’t know.

When candidates who rely on vague promises secure spots on the board, we end up in wildcard situations; it’s virtually impossible to tell what the next eight years will look like.

So at this point in time, our trustees-elect have to bear the burden of proof with the MSU community. It’s not enough to make promises for fair wages, lowered tuition costs and a better climate. Candidates shouldn’t be able to rely solely on prior political roles, CEO positions or party affiliations as justification to oversee the university. Because we have seen nothing from Bahar-Cook that tells us she won’t fall in line with the rest of the Democratic board members, should she be asked to.

I recently wrote about the issues brought about by statewide elections for board positions. This year’s election has only continued to prove that all we can do is hope for better trustee candidates to come along. The candidates in this race have shown that they are no exception to the issues the MSU board has been facing for years, and are in fact the epitome of Michigan’s broken electoral system.

The Michigan constitution has no indication of changing any time soon, nor does the gross political culture in higher education. So it may be asking too much to have hope that candidates would properly represent us.