2008 Woodie Awards
Under-handed multinationalization of campus services!
Online only!
Gabe Shames
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Opinion
As the current candidate for vice president of Student Affairs, I have recently been informed about disturbing administrational plans to merge and expand all the food stores, dining, and bookstore into one so-called "Advancement" body. This may not sound like such a big deal to the purposefully uninformed, but most of these services are currently being offered through what's called the University Center, which is still legally our own Student Union: the services are provided by the university, but supposedly still under our own jurisdiction.
In an equitable system, there should therefore be a highly advertised meeting of the committees of A.S., the elected representatives of the students. There would be allowed public comment and the administration would have to appeal before [this student body] if they wanted power over these commercial entities transferred to themselves. Sadly, it's exactly the opposite situation that is playing out on this "progressive" campus, and if the top officials have their way, will not even be discussed by the common student body before it's far too late to appeal. I'm saddened to report that, according to our candidate investigations, what was reported last week by Chris Hoff about the schedule of the administrational meetings on this topic being unscheduled was in fact a calculated, bold-faced lie. As far as we've been able to assess through their obstacle course of misinformation and red herrings, the meeting will in fact take place that Monday that most active students will be vacated for the march in Sacramento.
Many wondered why A.S. would schedule the biggest protest march against budget cuts on the capital by this campus not just on a Monday, but also the day before the election cycle starts, but to us candidates it has now become sickeningly clear. It was actually a quite clever hush-hush, rush-rush, divide-and-conquer strategy employed so stealthily that we weren't supposed to even become aware of it until months into the next academic year! The most active students would be away, displacing their contempt upon the Governor, and those that were staying would either be buried with classwork or too groggy and likely sapped of energy after 4/20 celebrations. I'm sure I wasn't the only one wondering why all of a sudden this year two separate smoke shops could advertise glassware sales in honor of the day in this very newspaper and there were no longer the usual signs around campus shamelessly trying to link marijuana to genital cancers. Not to mention that music-synched-to-movie Dark Side of the Rainbow was allowed to be shown all day in a central area of campus. It's quite revealing how our administration will demonize marijuana to assuage concerns of business associates but then let events purely associated with it be fully endorsed within their own facilities when it - the cannabis culture - can be used to their advantage.
In an equitable system, there should therefore be a highly advertised meeting of the committees of A.S., the elected representatives of the students. There would be allowed public comment and the administration would have to appeal before [this student body] if they wanted power over these commercial entities transferred to themselves. Sadly, it's exactly the opposite situation that is playing out on this "progressive" campus, and if the top officials have their way, will not even be discussed by the common student body before it's far too late to appeal. I'm saddened to report that, according to our candidate investigations, what was reported last week by Chris Hoff about the schedule of the administrational meetings on this topic being unscheduled was in fact a calculated, bold-faced lie. As far as we've been able to assess through their obstacle course of misinformation and red herrings, the meeting will in fact take place that Monday that most active students will be vacated for the march in Sacramento.
Many wondered why A.S. would schedule the biggest protest march against budget cuts on the capital by this campus not just on a Monday, but also the day before the election cycle starts, but to us candidates it has now become sickeningly clear. It was actually a quite clever hush-hush, rush-rush, divide-and-conquer strategy employed so stealthily that we weren't supposed to even become aware of it until months into the next academic year! The most active students would be away, displacing their contempt upon the Governor, and those that were staying would either be buried with classwork or too groggy and likely sapped of energy after 4/20 celebrations. I'm sure I wasn't the only one wondering why all of a sudden this year two separate smoke shops could advertise glassware sales in honor of the day in this very newspaper and there were no longer the usual signs around campus shamelessly trying to link marijuana to genital cancers. Not to mention that music-synched-to-movie Dark Side of the Rainbow was allowed to be shown all day in a central area of campus. It's quite revealing how our administration will demonize marijuana to assuage concerns of business associates but then let events purely associated with it be fully endorsed within their own facilities when it - the cannabis culture - can be used to their advantage.
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