2008 Woodie Awards
Going into next year with cuts and bruises
Jason Robo
Issue date: 6/6/07 Section: Opinion
Certain members of the administration and University Police Department speculate that students feeling disenfranchised by the current budget crisis and lack of shared governance should be careful to not engage in behavior that is disruptive to campus operations.
Isn't that conveniently vague, open to interpretation at the convenience of the administration? Shouldn't it be also available for student interpretation?
The [Humboldt State] administration has failed to make changes that have positively affected our budget crisis. It was admitted at the town hall meeting after our large protest last semester that more could have been done to educate students on the 15 units needed under our current funding model for Humboldt State. Spring registration came and still nothing.
We are approaching another year and I don't see what has been accomplished by the efforts of the students and faculty which is significant. The only achievement is that vast amounts of time and energy have been sapped in efforts to respectfully engage in a bureaucracy that wasn't made for us. The cuts being made, with no plans of them being temporary amputations, are a detriment to the mission, vision and goals of this university.
Others, as well as myself, understand there are better ways to preserve this campus and address the budget issues. Students will go to the capitol of this State to demand an exception to the funding model that would force Humboldt State to grow and fundamentally alter the humble town of Arcata. Majors are being cut, some into extinction and others represent a partial decapitation. Students are forced to find new homes and new degree programs. Faculty are forced to find new lives, disowned by a place were they have dedicated the very fabric of their being.
All of the above constitutes to me a serious disruption - of campus operation through the lives of students, family, faculty and groundskeepers. Disruption of the continuity of the high quality education we boast of in our mission that lowers everyday. With the hard work of workshops, valid insights of those who know the university best (students, faculty and other employees) and not naive, isolated, high paid administrators running Humboldt State like a fast food joint.
Don't let them consolidate the menu, demand diversity. After all, Margaret Meade once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Jason Robo is the Associated Students Legislative Affairs Vice President at Humboldt State
Isn't that conveniently vague, open to interpretation at the convenience of the administration? Shouldn't it be also available for student interpretation?
The [Humboldt State] administration has failed to make changes that have positively affected our budget crisis. It was admitted at the town hall meeting after our large protest last semester that more could have been done to educate students on the 15 units needed under our current funding model for Humboldt State. Spring registration came and still nothing.
We are approaching another year and I don't see what has been accomplished by the efforts of the students and faculty which is significant. The only achievement is that vast amounts of time and energy have been sapped in efforts to respectfully engage in a bureaucracy that wasn't made for us. The cuts being made, with no plans of them being temporary amputations, are a detriment to the mission, vision and goals of this university.
Others, as well as myself, understand there are better ways to preserve this campus and address the budget issues. Students will go to the capitol of this State to demand an exception to the funding model that would force Humboldt State to grow and fundamentally alter the humble town of Arcata. Majors are being cut, some into extinction and others represent a partial decapitation. Students are forced to find new homes and new degree programs. Faculty are forced to find new lives, disowned by a place were they have dedicated the very fabric of their being.
All of the above constitutes to me a serious disruption - of campus operation through the lives of students, family, faculty and groundskeepers. Disruption of the continuity of the high quality education we boast of in our mission that lowers everyday. With the hard work of workshops, valid insights of those who know the university best (students, faculty and other employees) and not naive, isolated, high paid administrators running Humboldt State like a fast food joint.
Don't let them consolidate the menu, demand diversity. After all, Margaret Meade once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Jason Robo is the Associated Students Legislative Affairs Vice President at Humboldt State
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Deborah
posted 7/13/07 @ 4:44 PM EST
Good article, Jason. Yesterday's firing of our Provost is another nail in HSU's coffin. At least his loyalty was to the university ad not the muckamucks. (Continued…)
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