As vice president last spring, Liston repeatedly came under fire for administrative incompetence. He was nearly impeached for failing to expel more than a half-dozen council members with excessive absences.
In addition, Liston was the official administrator of a campus-wide referendum that was tainted by a host of improprieties. The council ultimately invalidated that referendum.
Liston, who supported a term-bill fee hike of $10, allegedly tried to rig the referendum. But Liston's version of his actions in support of the hike are more spirited than sinister.
"I tried to get council members excited about going out and talking to people about the term bill hike," he says. "I even dressed up in my roommate's gorilla suit to try and get people excited."
The hike passed, despite widespread student opposition. But this fall, Liston says, he realized the raising of the fee was a mistake and worked to rectify it.
"I promised when I ran for president last fall that if I lost, the first thing I would do would be to kill the fee hike," Liston says. "And I did it that very evening."