<p>so the economics club at my school is really corrupt, i.e. for the past 5 years as far as i know, the presidents have been appointing their friends as executive board members even though the board rarely shows up to meetings. anyway, today i was chosen as the president for next year, and i decided to end this tradition by choosing my board members based on merit. however, i did not choose my best friend because his attendance record looks like swiss cheese (full of holes) and his performance record is pretty shoddy at best. now, he is angry at me, but being passively angry, and i don't really know what to do. i tried confronting him, but he seemed like nothing was wrong. any idea what i can say or do to help this situation?</p>
<p>also does your school have corrupt clubs like this??? did i do the right thing by appointing based on merit??</p>
<p>Is it socially, ethically, and professionally wrong? Yes. Is it expected? Yes.</p>
<p>The way I see it, as long as you’re not counting on your board to do anything exceptionally important requiring the numerous skills of a diverse and professional team, appoint who you will, taking into consideration both your friends and those whom you lead.</p>
<p>This means that your high school board would consist of a combination of friends who care enough to want to be on the board, and that one other kid who actually did work which merits the position. </p>
<p>Or you could just hold an election. </p>
<p>Or you could just stick to your fundamentals, explain to him why you made your choices and that that’s how life works, and leave it at that.</p>
<p>I don’t think he is passively angry at you for not choosing him. He is passively angry at you for repeatedly saying you were going to choose him. Then you go behind his back and tell a distant underclassmen that you are not going to choose him while he is sitting there waiting for his name to be called. Afterward, you choose another member whose attendance is even worse than your friend’s attendance. This other member probably promised you something that, knowing this person, would not keep in the soon to be future. You are probably thinking that you have done nothing wrong, but toy with people and their feelings. On top of all of that you come in smiling the next day like nothing has happened almost as if you are proud of your trickery. If you just “stuck to your fundamentals and explain why he was not chosen,” he might have actually agreed and accepted the consequences, but you didn’t and this “friend” has to accept that a charlatan is your true character. Things can end just as quickly as they started.</p>
<p>We have advisors choose the exec board. But they’re corrupt too. I was supposed to be co pres with this girl, but one of the advisors liked this one guy so he chose him to be pres with her. Now i’m demoted to vice pres. Oh and I was more qualified than him. I was in the club longer than him, and I was made secretary last year. He just started (and didn’t go to all meetings) and magically rose to the rank of pres. … >.></p>
<p>Yes, I think you did the right thing. My school had a significant amount of corruption as well, and the worst part was that the positions did actually have real power/influence.</p>
<p>That said, you should figure out how to talk to your friend (and definitely apologize, even if you don’t think you did anything wrong). One of my (former) friends did something stupid, but acted like everything was fine and couldn’t even tell I was annoyed with him. I don’t talk to him anymore.</p>
<p>When I was a junior and president of a club, we had an open VP slot. So when the entire club was at a buffet, the three VP candidates agreed to compete for the slot once and for all by being the first to drink this horrendous cocktail of soda, thousand island, pepper, salt, ketchup, mayo, vinegar, pickles and other horrendous buffet food. </p>
<p>The winner got the spot. Pure meritocracy at its best.</p>
<p>I’m starting Mu Alpha Theta next year (partly because the existing math club is unbelievable boring and the President appoints all her friends for cabinet members). I really really hate giving positions to people just because they’re my friends; I’m trying my best to avoid that. I believe that the positions should be reserved for people who actually care about the club and is interested in it.</p>
<p>Out of the 5 people (besides me) who are likely to have positions, 3 of them are genuinely interested in math and will mostly like make meaningful contributions. The remaining 2 are I guess my “friends” on some degree. One is not so close. She is interested in math and the club, but as far as making smart decisions she’s not so bright. I’m giving her the position because she is the first person I thought of when finding someone for doing artwork for the club, and it’s not like she won’t contribute. The last one is the problematic one. He’s a closer friend so it’s tough for me to make a decision. On one hand I don’t want to be a jerk since he really needs an EC and he’s rather intelligent. On the other hand he’s doing it purely for admission purposes and doesn’t actually care about the club. For now, he’s in but if I can find any good excuse not to let him in, I will use it. >_> I feel bad but I believe this is the right thing to do for the club.</p>
<p>I hate the patronage system as well (haha, “patronage” from AP Comp Gov). </p>
<p>The execs don’t show up and don’t do anything. There are members who do more stuff than the execs. And the execs are the ones who have the power and they end up boasting stuff and getting credit for the stuff that the members did. It could get quite ridiculous. </p>
<p>And those execs end up choosing more corrupt execs… </p>
<p>I would just tell your friend that he’d have to prove himself if he wants a position. If he does the work for the next couple of months, he could get a position later on.</p>