Opinion
ASUM execs have better things to do
Story by Sean Breslin | March 18, 2008
Montana Kaimin
Raising money for a worthwhile charity is certainly honorable. But with their “UM MarioKart 64 Madness” fundraiser, ASUM president Dustin Leftridge and vice president Tara Ness aren’t doing that. Rather, they’re acting as the Adams Center’s press agents, putting a fun face on what’s otherwise a pretty shameful experience for Adams Center director Mary Muse & Co. Although Leftridge and Ness were elected to represent and work for students, it’s seems more and more like the UM administration is pulling the strings.
Leftridge and Ness could be spending more time working with student groups or organizing sustainability efforts on campus, issues the executives ran on during last spring’s election. Instead, they’ve suddenly focused on raising money to “support AIDS education,” according to the flier for the fundraiser.
They don’t say where the money’s going, or how it will help AIDS education in Montana or anywhere else, for that matter. ASUM isn’t even sponsoring the tournament, though Ness used her vice president’s report last week to discuss it. It might not be an ASUM event, but the ASUM execs shouldn’t step in and out of their roles whenever it’s convenient for Main Hall.
At first glance, it seems Leftridge and Ness are puppets of the UM administration, acting on the orders of Muse and Vice Presidents Jim Foley and Bob Duringer, the other primary fundraisers for UM’s donation to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
But that doesn’t have to be the case. In putting their faces on the MarioKart fundraiser, Leftridge and Ness have taken a proactive and public role in raising the $75,000 necessary to bring Elton back. That’s showing a lot more cojones than Muse, Duringer or Foley. And the UM administration owes them for that.
Leftridge and Ness’ tenure at the helm of ASUM will depend on whether they can use their fundraising efforts as a bargaining tool to get something in return from the administration. It should be something that benefits all students, regardless of major or year, resident or non-resident status or political affiliation. For example, they could ask Dennison to throw his support behind repealing the repeat fee, something he has not done despite campus-wide opposition to the fee.
Or ASUM could let Main Hall just keep pulling the strings.
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Comments
I’m positive the amount of time you’ve spent “reporting” on this AIDS fundraiser is more than I’ve spent planning it. I think you’re making a personal attack based on ASUM hostilities and it’s pretty childish. The UM administration approached us to help fundraise for the Elton John AIDS fund and there’s no reason why we wouldn’t agree to help out. I’m sorry you suck at Mariokart but you should spend this extra time working on your unbiased journalism skills so you don’t have to fill your editorials with personal cheap shots.
Posted by Tara Ness on 03/18/2008 at 1:02 am
Hey Tara, it would be helpful to me and other readers of this editorial (not news report, mind you) if you could just point out those so-called “personal cheap shots.” Because I’m not really seeing anything personal in there.
This might be personal, though, and unfortunately it was omitted from the editorial somehow: your fundraiser sucked and was a dismal failure. Add embarrassing, poorly-conceived and insulting to AIDS research to that list.
Next time you want to tow the administration’s line and fundraise at their beck and call, perhaps you SHOULD put more time into the fundraising than the Kaimin has spent reporting it. But it is pretty sad that you minimize your contribution to the planning while at the same time taking a PERSONAL shot at the Kaimin for reporting the truth.
But I guess words speak louder than actions at ASUM. Some things never change.
And if you think there’s “no reason” why you shouldn’t help UM Administration pay up it’s $75,000 bribe to a pop singer for a stupid stage show, then perhaps you really are completely and totally out of touch with UM’s students.
Posted by Fred Stapleton on 03/18/2008 at 1:43 am
Mr. Stapleton,
I think the personal attack comes when he purposefully omits what we have done for sustainability and student rights (even though it has been reported on in his own paper) and makes us seem evil for agreeing to do an AIDS fundraiser-(please make note this check is not going to bribe Elton- it’s going directly to his AIDS fund which actually gave Missoula a grant a few years back).
And I think calling it a dismal failure is a little out of line since it hasn’t happened yet. The fact of the matter is that I would have agreed to do the fundraiser if any group had asked us. It’s just a good cause and I encourage you to read up on his organization.
P.S. We did do all the planning- it just didn’t take very long. And I have no beef with the Kaimin- just unmeaningful editorials that tell me how to allocate my extra time.
Posted by Tara on 03/18/2008 at 7:28 am
didnt you just run an article about how asum is doing a bunch of stuff for sustainability? whats wrong with doing both? i see a pattern in your editorials here mr breslin
Posted by Adam on 03/18/2008 at 8:36 am
Yeah, Sean, you’re usually a cool guy but this is pretty uncalled for. Dustin and Tara have gotten 3 new buses, revamped the recycling program, opened the sustainability Center, re-opened the renter center, and held a rights forum with those little know your rights cards. I think you’re just trying to rile up an administration that has been pretty good at getting a lot of projects done. what did you accomplish this year man?
Posted by Mark on 03/18/2008 at 8:56 am
Let’s be clear here. The $75,000 bribe for Elton John is exactly that: it’s a payment required for a pop concert. Without the $75,000, no Elton John. And conversely, without Elton John, there would be no effort to raise $75,000.
If the University and ASUM were that concerned about AIDS funding, they would have engaged in this fundraising for years.
But the University and ASUM only seem to care about AIDS research funding when they need to bring a millionaire pop star to town to play a show after the University historically bungled its management of the same show just six months previous.
Apparently the elected officials of ASUM are there to pick up the University’s slack in poor management of concerts for music stage shows featuring an artist known for his goofy costumes.
Congratulations, Tara. You’ll be more famous for this desperate pleading to Elton John than anything else in your administration.
So sad.
Posted by Fred Stapleton on 03/18/2008 at 10:18 am
The question of whether one thinks $75,000 to a credible AIDS charity is worth having Elton John back in Missoula belongs to the Adams Center and the Administration of the University of Montana. They obviously felt like this was worth it.
If anyone from ASUM had felt otherwise, any one of the twenty senators or three executives would’ve written a resolution condemning the return of Elton John. As that never happened, I assume a) that each member of the senate believes Elton John is a decent musician, or worth having at UM again; b) that his return is worth $75,000 towards fighting AIDS.
It’s bad taste to judge a year’s worth of work on one relatively miniscule fundraiser. I’m not a journalist, but I was actually at the tournament, so let me say a lot of students had fun. A lot of students felt like contributing to the fight against AIDS was worth it (with or without Elton John), and most of them didn’t care whether a whiny editor for a school paper was judging them for participating. Because they showed up anyway. Hurrah.
Posted by Sean Morrison on 03/18/2008 at 8:50 pm
