Saturday, March 27, 2010
Wasteful spending is wasteful spending
As rare as this occasion is: Agreed.
Now, that's not to say that all entertainment programming is wasteful. Spending on entertaining as part of larger events, such as Homecoming and Mackay Week, is probably more justifiable than just a random event. This spending might also be justified as providing students something to do late at night as an alternative to drinking.
Holding two events with essentially the same activities within a short time period seems duplicative, as well. Duplicative events by their nature are wasteful. To our friends at UNR SFL, I pose this question: Ignoring your premise that ASUN is wasteful because it coercively takes from all to support the "annonyingly active," is all programming spending wasteful? If not, what is not wasteful?
There might also be First Amendment issues implicated by ASUN's practice of banning from their Facebook pages individuals who express dissenting views. Even though government is utilizing a private service (Facebook), the government cannot act in ways that violate a person's constitutional rights. And guess what, ASUN is a government actor. At the very least, ASUN might want to consult with an attorney to determine what its First Amendment liabilities are with respect to its use of Facebook and other social media outlets to connect with ASUN members.
And we're not the only ones to notice this as an issue. The problem with the ASUN's Facebook pages is it appears ASUN and ASUN officers create forums with no announced limits on participation--an open forum--and then engage in editorial control over comments and membership--censorship. This is a no-no and potentially opens ASUN and the University to liability in a civil rights suit.
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