@cphuntington97 Ubuntu switched to systemd because Debian did:
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1316
Debian switched to systemd, because it's "faster" (not that important on servers, because "RHEL/CentOS did", and apparently without much debate:
http://linuxsay.com/t/why-did-debian-switch-to-systemd-and-what-is-the-future-of-the-distribution/388
RHEL/CentOS switched to systemd because it's their internal project I guess.
This whole thing looks bungled.