November 1, 2007
ASUM progressing on many issues
I am writing in response to the numerous articles and opinion pieces that were published in the Thursday, October 25th edition. As a student-at-large and someone who spends a fair amount of time in the ASUM office conversing with senators about important issues facing campus and reading the Kaimin, I feel that ASUM is being unfairly bullied by our campus media. For a moment, I would like to focus on some of the good work that ASUM is currently doing:
Birth Control – I am so proud of ASUM for bringing up the issue of rising costs of birth control for women. This is an important issue that many people aren’t aware of, especially men. However, I strongly believe in giving women all of the same rights afforded to us men and I think is highly insensitive of Senator Cox to say “if I can buy my own box, others can too”. First of all, in the strictly hypothetical event that you found a woman who would be willing to even touch you, would you walk her to the abortion clinic and pay for the service if your condom broke or failed? Would you step up and help pay to raise the child if she chose to keep it?
Many women (understandably) do not enjoy leaving the job of using proper protection to men. It is very easy for condoms to break or for men not to use them at all without the woman noticing. As Business Manager Erica Henderson said, there are a lot of other reproductive issues that birth control can help manage as well including sickness. With this being said, we should be doing all that we can to keep those costs as affordable as possible. And Senator Cox, just so you know, telling women to “sell their ticket to buy birth control” is hands down the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Who voted for this moron anyway?
Ticket Scalping – I am proud that Senator Trevor Hunter took the initiative to begin discussions on how to solve this problem. I am sick and tired of going to The Source at 12pm (I have class Mondays from 8am until then) and not being able to get a ticket to a football game that part of my fees pay for. What pisses me off even more is reading a Kaimin article about some guy who makes thousands of dollars selling MY ticket that another student handed off to him for free as an act of kindness. This is completely unacceptable. Just because scalping is legal that doesn’t make it right. If swiping my Griz card at the admission gate is the only way to guarantee that everyone who got into the game using a student ticket didn’t get ripped off by a scalper, then so be it. This is a classic example of how greedy people ruin good things for everyone else.
UM Productions – Elton John’s manager was quoted as saying “the poor performance by your student project group was conveyed to me from both the production standpoint and touring management”. The article failed to mention the specifics in terms of what was so poor about production or management. Does the Kaimin even know what those specifics are? I believe it should have been the journalistic responsibility of Kelsey Bernius to find this out before printing the story.
I have had numerous experiences working with UM Productions as both a volunteer and a Senator and I can tell you that UM Productions is an extremely professional and well-built ASUM organization. Judging from that quote and his calling UM Productions a “student project group”, it sounds to me like this is a case of a bitchy, stuck-up manager who has spent way too much time at five star hotels and getting manicures. I think it is fairly hasty to completely reorganize UM Productions because of one bad review.
After all, this is the same production company who brought us the Rolling Stones! I don’t remember reading about their manager complaining about anything and that show was at least twice as large. Let’s continue to give the responsibility to hungry young students who are qualified and have a passion for breaking into the entertainment industry.
In closing, I would like to add that President Leftridge and Vice President Ness are doing an amazing job with ASUM this year and that they are being unfairly criticized. This is only the month of October and in this short time they have learned a lot and will continue to do so. Former ASUM Vice President Cedric Jacobson wrote a letter to the editor detailing the faults of President Leftridge by wanting to enter into an executive session, but last year I remember Jacobson chairing an executive session of ASUM himself. It would have been far more beneficial for our new ASUM executives and the students they represent if you had shared with them your knowledge and expertise on the procedure. After all, wasn’t helping make the transition for the next ASUM easier part of your farewell speech?
Jose Diaz
Senior, Political Science
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