2008 Woodie Awards
Internal tensions undermine ASUWT Government Goals
Mark White
Issue date: 5/19/05 Section: News
As the ASUWT awaits decisions that will determine student government make-up for next year, tensions within the current team threaten to leave a record of incohesion as their legacy.
Student government has been plagued by resignations this year, a number of senators and the president have resigned, but team building workshops early in the winter quarter resulted in the announcement of a new dedication to cooperation among the group.
That much of that seems to have fallen by the wayside was apparent at the most recent ASUWT staff meeting.
All but a few of those in attendance were vocal in expressing that underlying tensions are standing in the way of much of the work that needs to be done before the year is over.
Sharon Thomas, ASUWT vice president, was outspoken on the subject, starting the discussion by stating, frustration evident in her voice, that there is a "serious problem." "We need to sit down and talk about it and everyone's blowing it off," Thomas added.
Talk of the interview committee which will determine next year's members of the Service and Activities Fee Committee, SAFC, was the launching pad for the tense exchange to come.
"The student body thinks we're a joke," Thomas said. "If we can't come to a consensus, how can we be taken seriously?"
This referred directly to varied interpretations of the by-laws and the process stated therein for conducting the interviews, but served as a platform on which more frustrations about self serving interpretation of the by-laws and the constitution could be based.
Welma Jackson, ASUWT senator, shared his views that some team members may be too self driven, perhaps at the cost of fair interpretation of matters that are left relatively open to interpretation in the governing documents.
"We have latitude," Jackson pointed out. "That doesn't mean that we should say 'I can do this because the by-laws don't say that I can't.' We need to ask ourselves if our interpretations and their applications are ethical."
Student government has been plagued by resignations this year, a number of senators and the president have resigned, but team building workshops early in the winter quarter resulted in the announcement of a new dedication to cooperation among the group.
That much of that seems to have fallen by the wayside was apparent at the most recent ASUWT staff meeting.
All but a few of those in attendance were vocal in expressing that underlying tensions are standing in the way of much of the work that needs to be done before the year is over.
Sharon Thomas, ASUWT vice president, was outspoken on the subject, starting the discussion by stating, frustration evident in her voice, that there is a "serious problem." "We need to sit down and talk about it and everyone's blowing it off," Thomas added.
Talk of the interview committee which will determine next year's members of the Service and Activities Fee Committee, SAFC, was the launching pad for the tense exchange to come.
"The student body thinks we're a joke," Thomas said. "If we can't come to a consensus, how can we be taken seriously?"
This referred directly to varied interpretations of the by-laws and the process stated therein for conducting the interviews, but served as a platform on which more frustrations about self serving interpretation of the by-laws and the constitution could be based.
Welma Jackson, ASUWT senator, shared his views that some team members may be too self driven, perhaps at the cost of fair interpretation of matters that are left relatively open to interpretation in the governing documents.
"We have latitude," Jackson pointed out. "That doesn't mean that we should say 'I can do this because the by-laws don't say that I can't.' We need to ask ourselves if our interpretations and their applications are ethical."