Spring Break
Reality about ASOSU
Sara Gwin
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Forum
It pains me to write this column. It's difficult for me to criticize ASOSU because I worked there last year as the Director of Women's Affairs and I know how hard people work and how much they wish to serve the students as best they can. Many of us traded in our social lives, academics, and other jobs that could have better paid for rent and food, to work far longer hours than our stipends covered and make the most of our positions. My aim today is to question decisions of the administration (president and vice president), but not the organization as whole as I believe the students and staff for the most part do their best within the parameters given to them. I was asked to write this for those who do not have a voice; for those who love what ASOSU stands for, but who expected far more from the current administration and had no medium through which to express what they feel.
That being said, it is also difficult to write this because I was friends with them, campaigned for them, and turned down other lucrative positions to re-apply for my position because I didn't want to leave them short-changed in their quest to usher in change and re-establish ASOSU as the organization supports the students and gives them a more powerful voice. By writing this, it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back in an already-fractured friendship and working relationship.
But once they were elected, it felt like politics as usual. All of my preconceived notions about corruption and abuse of power seemed to be brought to the student government level. They hired friends, created positions for them, and had other hiring practices that wouldn't fly in any other organization. They created a new position for a friend, the Executive Chief of Staff, giving him a "third-in-command" role by elevating a non-Executive position to create it. Another issue is that he was elected to, and currently serves on, the Student/Incidental Fees Committee, which is a major conflict of interest because of his third-in-command role.
That being said, it is also difficult to write this because I was friends with them, campaigned for them, and turned down other lucrative positions to re-apply for my position because I didn't want to leave them short-changed in their quest to usher in change and re-establish ASOSU as the organization supports the students and gives them a more powerful voice. By writing this, it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back in an already-fractured friendship and working relationship.
But once they were elected, it felt like politics as usual. All of my preconceived notions about corruption and abuse of power seemed to be brought to the student government level. They hired friends, created positions for them, and had other hiring practices that wouldn't fly in any other organization. They created a new position for a friend, the Executive Chief of Staff, giving him a "third-in-command" role by elevating a non-Executive position to create it. Another issue is that he was elected to, and currently serves on, the Student/Incidental Fees Committee, which is a major conflict of interest because of his third-in-command role.
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m
posted 10/07/08 @ 9:12 PM PST
Sara,
Thank you for writing this column. I have been very frustrated with the the things that have happened at ASOSU ever since the new administration was elected. (Continued…)
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