Friends, voters, students, random people who pick up the Trib at Marquette Gyro:

Roughly one month ago, we embarked on a journey that we thought would change student government forever. After much deliberation with my family, friends and wealthy, out-of-state donors, I decided to throw my hat in the ring March 3 as a write-in candidate for Marquette Student Government. Now, on April 1, it is with disappointment, but great appreciation, I officially concede from the race.

I congratulate Kyle Whelton and Natalie Pinkney on their victory. They ran a decent campaign, despite their inability to get 50 percent of the vote from 22 percent of the student body. I wish them well, but this column is not about them. It is about us, and the message that will continue to live on. We may have lost the election, but we did not lose our hearts, our honor or our Twitter ratios, the latter of which I dominated.

If we proved nothing more in this election, it’s that the MUSG establishment is afraid – afraid of a well-funded, handsome voice of the people challenging the status quo. I ran for the right reasons – to represent the student body, shake up the race, receive a lot of attention and hopefully get free tuition. We accomplished all of those goals, with the exception of the free tuition. While the election may have been rigged to prevent me from winning in a landslide, we should not be somber. This is a time of joy knowing that we did all we could to bring people together for a common cause. I will never forget shaking hands with voters and hearing your concerns, or watching you tweet your support. I will never forget your generous donations at our fundraisers or your efforts knocking door-to-door, bothering students in their dorms who were likely trying to study – or do hard drugs, if it was McCormick. We did not get the result we wanted, but because of your efforts, we made an impact that will remain forever in the hearts and minds of Marquette students and faculty. Whelton’s term lasts one year, but the Pete Green revolution lives eternally.

I think Wikipedia said it best when it said, “An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office.” I couldn’t agree more. But when only 22 percent of the population votes, the other 90 percent that sits home and struggles with basic math still needs to be represented. I will strive to continue to be that voice. I look forward to being behind the scenes spending more time with my family, but also raising my voice when the MUSG elites are out of line. I will not go away – both because I am still determined to fight and because I really just don’t have enough credits to graduate yet.

I hope to see you all again fighting for what we believe in: Me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

God bless you, God bless Marquette and for Pete’s sake, go Green.

Pete Green