Sunday, February 8, 2009
ASUN Political Parties
If you haven't realized yet, there are now "official" political parties in ASUN. On the RIGHT we have Students Taking Action and Reducing Tuition (START), a group of students who appeared out of no where with promises of "reducing ASUN costs and tuition." Lets take a look at their "platform" for a moment to discuss the reality of what they are proposing.
- All Volunteer Student Senate
According to their website "unless a good deed is voluntary, it has no moral significance. Anybody within ASUN should participate due to a genuine desire to help the school and a sense of being able to do good, not because they are being paid by student funds. Many benefits such as banquets, catered meetings, and numerous other perks that the ASUN senate receives are unnecessary and drain the ASUN budget." Their proposal is to change the way senators are reimbursed for their time. They plan on doing this by "securing credit hour reimbursement for ASUN leaders instead of paid salaries." It's not clear here if they intend on doing this just for the Senate or for all student employees of ASUN. If they plan on doing this just for the Senators, they are "ill-informed" because student senators already get paid 3 credits. It doesn't go to their ePaws bills but it's the same thing. Even if it was changed to go directly to their bill instead of in a check, IT'S THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY either way and it all comes out of ASUN's budget. So this entire proposal is worthless because it offers ZERO change from the status quo.
If they intend on doing this for all ASUN employees, that's a bigger issue. Money would still come out of the ASUN budget, probably around the same amount, because there is no way in hell the University is going to write-off that much money, and tuition waivers are MONEY LOST to the University. The only student in ASUN who even comes close to getting paid what they deserve is the President. The President makes about $8,800 a year. Compare that to the average part-time job off campus:
Job: Hours per week: Per Hour: Total Cost:
ASUN Prez 25-30 $6.75(approx.) $8,800
Off Campus Avg. 20 $10.00 $10,400
Off Campus High 20 $12.00 $12,480
Off Campus Low 20 $7.50 $7,800
So even the highest paid person in ASUN is making less than a student could make working 20 hours per week for $7.50 per hour. Anyone that runs for President to make a little extra cash, is a retard. There is NO FISCAL incentive for ASUN leaders.
But just to be sure, lets take a look at Mr. John Russell, the leader of START, in his current position as a Club Commissioner. Oh, that's right, he doesn't like to mention that, yes HE DRAWS an ASUN salary! According to PL 75-44, as a Club Commissioner Mr. Russell receives, "the equivalent of the cost of three (3) undergraduate credit-hours at the University, which shall be paid each semester." If you believe so strongly in the principals of START Mr. Russell, you should refuse to get your paycheck this semester, and return the one you received last semester!
- Improving Programs
This is an interesting part of their platform. It seems by their website that they have a problem with two major parts of ASUN, club funding and Homecoming. According to their website, "currently some clubs are taking advantage of club support." Their solution is to implement a program that was already approved by the Senate (signed by the President?) this year, OrgSync. But they also think that the Club Commission should be more restrictive in giving out funds.
YES THAT'S RIGHT ALL YOU CLUB LEADERS, S.T.A.R.T WANTS TO CUT YOUR CLUB FUNDING.
But according to records, Mr. Russell, a current club commissioner has voted almost completely with the rest of the commission in regards to club funding. So if there is such a problem with clubs getting "handouts" than Mr. Russell has done nothing in his current position to remedy this. It's hard to want to vote for somebody to change something that they already don't do in their current position.
In regards to Homecoming, START would like to move it back under Programming and cut it's budget. If they had done some research they might have found that this is the way it was in 2007, and was changed by the Senate at the request of then Director of Programming Eli Reilly and President Ragsdale. So even if they could get enough support to move it back under programming, which isn't likely to happen because we had an AMAZING Homecoming this year, they would have to override a veto (assuming Mr. Reilly gets reelected, and even then I doubt Mr. Cabrera would allow it to pass because he voted for the change when he was on the Senate.) So this entire section of their platform, that's meant to "Improve Programs" is a bunch of bull. Half they could be doing right now, and the other half is completely improbable.
- Spending Student Money
Again, according to their website, "there is no incentive to save money" in ASUN. Well DUH! If the knew anything about government or the University system, they would know that this isn't something they can fix. There is NO WAY to change this policy and implement their "merit-based system." First and foremost, the policy of zero-budgeting is state law. Every department in the entire state operates the same way. And because ASUN operates in the world of NSHE and in the accounting system of UNR, there is no way to change this.
Apparently ASUN spends "a lot" of money on themselves with things like, "gavels, nameplates, robes, retreats and private speakers." For one, gavels cost about $50, so your splitting hairs and the gavel is given to the Speaker of the Senate for that year as a REWARD for the position. As far as nameplates, I don't know how they can be "redundant" as each new senator, president, etc... has a different name. I don't think Mr. Russell would be very happy if he had to use a nameplate that said "Senator Richards" on it assuming he gets elected. This is just one of many of their campaign promises that are just plain stupid. And it's clear that the people who came up with this have NO CLUE what ASUN does, and the real story behind much of the budget. I would hope that these people did a little research before coming down with a case of verbal (typing) diarrhea and let all this shit come out of their mouth (hands?).
It's clear to anyone with any knowledge that this POLITICAL PARTY has no clue what they are talking about. Because if they did, they would know better than to say that nameplates are "redundant" and that the Senate can simply change the way the University does it's accounting. My recommendation to this POLITICAL PARTY is to get your nose out of Governor Gibbon's blackberry and go talk to people who actually deal with the budget.
So everyone knows who NOT to vote for if they want to keep the association alive:
CABNR:
- Paul Sanford
COBA:
- Nathan Devlin
- Jane Glasgow
- JOHN RUSSELL
Engineering:
- Barry Belmont
- Travis Hagen
CoLA:
- Mary Hunton
- Matthew Maggy
CoS:
- Tomsen Reed
- Zachary Rees
UPDATE: Looks like we have a fan!
UPDATE: Looks like we have a fan!
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It seems idiotic to claim that someone is for cutting clubs while simultaneously saying that person is simply a follows-the-voting-line rubber stamper of club funding.
ReplyDeleteIdiotic.
You appear to have missed the point. Is Mr. Russell in favor of scrutinizing club spending or is he just a supporter of the status quo? Wolfie was pointing out the apparent discrepancy between Russell's campaign rhetoric and his votes on the Clubs Commission. Hardly idiotic on Wolfie's part.
ReplyDeleteI actually confronted Mr.Russell via facebook sometime last week and asked if he would be willing to offer his club commissioner stipend towards a supposed private scholarship. Check out our wall-to-wall:
ReplyDeleteJessica Purney wrote
at 8:31pm on February 6th, 2009
I was just curious...as a club commissioner do you give away your stipend for private scholarships? Because you do in fact make more than a senator does.
John Russell wrote
at 8:33pm on February 6th, 2009
Actually, I haven't even gotten my employment paperwork in yet. When I signed up as a commissioner, I had no idea it was a stipend deal until well within the first semester.
John Russell wrote
at 8:54pm on February 6th, 2009
It's not about the money, it is about showing the decision makers of our school and state that we are serious and are willing to go the extra mile. We want to actually DO something about the situation, not just talk and whine about it, and I feel this is one of the best ways of going about doing so.
Jessica Purney wrote
at 10:33pm on February 6th, 2009
Ok well that's cool that you joined ASUN with complete voluntary intentions. But when you do receive your compensation will that be contributed to your private scholarship?
John Russell wrote at 5:19pm
Thats a pretty good idea, do you want to help me do that? Maybe be my campaign manager? Life coach?
Sooooo aside from the loaded language in his answer...and sarcastic tone at the end...he never actually answered my question.
If that isn't evidence enough of the hypocritical and arrogant attitude of this wannabe student leader..I don't know what is.
ReplyDeleteI call on Mr. Russell to return any wages he's received from ASUN or take down that part of your hypocritical platform.
I don't know. I think it is a good idea to look at the budget. It doesn't seem wrong to me to try to save money on salaries during these difficult times. I do know of some prominent schools that don't pay their elected officials, but offer " credit hours ". I disagree, i think that changes could be made to the ASUN budget. Who knows? What if the elected officials didn't get paid at all ? That could be a way to save money. You would condem someone for wanting to change the way we spend ?
ReplyDelete