First, there was the suspension of VP Alex Prescott. This was the first time the Senate has ever done something like this, as it was not allowed until a bill was passed last week. I understand why the Senate was frustrated. All students are frustrated with a lack of Founder's Day, and other aspects of the programming this year. However, I thought the the VP was deserving of a break here. The action taken by the Senate is a sufficient punishment, but it does not do anything to improve programming. They are throwing the job upon Colin, who has been doing completely different work as Secretary all year. I can't imagine that the programming will be any better next month with Prescott staying away. The Senate felt that it was more important to make a point and punish Prescott personally, regardless of what it meant for the students and the programming that they receive.
Then, there was the certification of the election. I agree with the majority of the Senate that to have not certified the entire election would have been somewhat insane. It would have been unfair to all of the candidates, most of whom participated in fair elections. However, the Senate had an opportunity to single out the Presidential election. It is very hard for me to comprehend the argument that they consistently made, which was that regardless of whether or not the election was fair, holding another one would be too hard, or look silly, or whatever. And as one Senator put it, "I don't care if the election was fair." Well, you may not, but I do. As one of a small handful of students at AU that is not part of the SG but still cares about what goes on inside of it, I certainly care about whether or not the election was fair.
There is another argument to be made in favor of certification, which Bikram made to me, which is that it would be pointless to hold another election under the same rules which are so blatantly flawed. That is a much more logical point than the ones made by the majority of the Senate. However, I would still have been in favor of doing the Presidential election again. I just cannot get beyond the fact that two candidates did the same thing wrong, and were punished completely differently. And even if there was nothing that could be done to Nate, throwing Nirvana off the ballot was a huge overreaction. Every other candidate that committed a violation was given a chance to correct it. Nirvana was not. Again, I point to precedent: I hung a banner on the parking garage last year. Lots of people saw it, and there was no way to change (or "correct") that, but I was not punished. How is Nirvana's punishment even close to fair? Undergraduate Senate, apparently you don't care what was fair (you actually said as much), or what was right. You care about what is easy. Which is why the only reason that most of you are there is because you were able to run unopposed. To actually earn your seat would have been far too difficult for you.
Most importantly though, election reform is needed. Bikram is making a valiant effort to do that, and I will have more on that tomorrow.
Finally, Speaker Merkwae resigned as Speaker of the Senate. She did so with the following email:
I hereby resign from my position as Speaker of the Undergraduate Senate. I can no longer associate my name with an organization that chooses convenience over ethical conduct.
As my boy Martin Luther King Jr. would say, "The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy."
Some suggested that the debate over election certification was all about personal interest. Certainly the Speaker was a supporter of Nirvana's campaign, as were most of those that spoke in her defense. I was not. I voted for Seth. But regardless of who I supported, I can still see how ridiculous this process was. I would hope that anybody outside of the SG bubble would still possess enough common sense to be able to as well.
And this should in no way tarnish the victory of Nate Bronstein. If I haven't been clear enough, let me do so now: he was a great candidate, and will be a great President. Anybody that knows him would agree. That is not at all what this is about.
This is about a broken system, and a failed process. And I sincerely question whether or not the people that are in a position to do something about it are capable. Hopefully they will prove me wrong.
I would like to share my thoughts as an outsider of AUSG. Today I attended the beginning of the senate meeting to support my friends who spoke during public comment. To be frank, I was completely appalled by the actions (and perhaps more appropriately, the lack of action) in the Undergraduate Senate.
ReplyDeleteI sat in the back row, eager to observe the meeting and hear what the public comment speakers had to say but I was extremely disappointed to observe a large majority of the senators meticulously checking facebook, e-mail, and text messages instead of listening to the compelling speeches. The apathy that I felt in that room was both shocking and frustrating.
As an undergraduate student, I must admit that I had thought very little about student government until this recent election. After all of the unfairness that occurred I started to take notice in the actions of the SG (and began to read this blog). I can only speak for myself, but before today I had very little faith in AUSG, and I would venture to guess that I am not the only student who feels that way. I was hoping that the senate meeting today would ease my distrust of AUSG, but I was very wrong.
To me, the integrity of the undergraduate senate, and student government as a whole is gone. It seems to me that these students are simply parading around the student government trying to pad their resumes in order to fulfill their delusional fantasies of someday participating in the United States Government. This is laughable to me, as they clearly lack the passion for justice or willingness to advocate for the people whom they represent. Truthfully, I don't think that many AU students take their representatives very seriously. More troubling is the fact that the representatives themselves seem to not take their positions seriously either. The bottom line is that they have been elected to do a job. This job might not matter to them, but it matters to me.
It must be noted that I am not trying to call out any of these people by name but am rather speaking generally about what I witnessed today. I certainly hope that there are some senators who take their jobs seriously and ran for this office because they genuinely wanted to help improve AU. I think that one of these such people was lost today with the resignation of speaker Amanda Merkwae.
I would like to applaud the efforts of Meg Miraglia, Emily Beyer, and Amanda Merkwae. Their speeches to the senate during the first round of public comment were strong and convincing. Perhaps if more senators had been doing their jobs and paying attention, they would have clearly heard the many reasons why the presidential election should not have been certified. However, they have made it quite clear that they do not care anyways.
I am extremely disappointed in what I observed in the senate today, and in the state of AUSG in general. I think that these people need to be called out and held accountable. I certainly hope that changes can be made that can allow me and my fellow students to be proud of our student government.