Associated
student senate? More like stupid senate
Sean
Cocca
Katie Plourd
and Jamie Rowe
We have a bureaucracy
training course here at Cal State Long Beach. It is called the Associated Students
Senate. In this small class of 20 students all the skills and knowledge one
would need to thrive in a political establishment are on display for all to
see. They are truly masters of their art and are well on their way to becoming
exceptionally mediocre players in the game we call the U.S. government.
These representatives meet every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in USU-217 to discuss
issues that really matter to the students.We mean really, really matter.
Take, for instance, the resolution the Senate passed March 1, which called
for the condemnation of hate speech against Muslims in the media. This resolution
was passed 13-0-1, according to the Senate meeting minutes for that day. It
was passed almost unanimously, with only one abstention. After it was passed,
a copy of the resolution was sent to the Danish embassy asking for the government
to “explicitly condemn hateful speech, slander and unwarranted stereotyping
in is major media outlets,” according to the Daily Forty-Niner.
If you worked in the Danish embassy and received a copy of a resolution passed
by the student government of what they might consider a piddly public university
in California, what would you do? Would you take that resolution, with all
the authority and influence it exudes, and give it a second thought?
We don’t understand what the Senate felt it was accomplishing by passing
this resolution. Did it make them feel better about themselves?
What they really accomplished was the stroking of their egos. This was a non-action
and something on which the Senate should not have wasted its time.
But that’s not the only instance the Senate wasted time on meaningless
issues. Just look at a resolution Senators debated over the War in Iraq sponsored
by Sen. Amin Km, College of Natural Science & Mathematics.
Luckily in this instance, a few shinning examples of rationality emerged during
the discussion. Sen.-at-Large Guido D’Onofrio and Sen. Justin Toderoff,
College of Health and Human Services, told the Senate this resolution shouldn’t
have been brought up at all. They said this was a federal matter and should
not be discussed at the meeting because it had nothing to do with education
or Cal State Long Beach, according to the meeting minutes.
We agree completely, but since when does common sense enter into bureaucracy?
Km said the overall message of his resolution was “Education over war,” but
what do the empty words of his resolution really gain for this school other
than a hearty pat on the back for Km and a misplaced sense of accomplishment?
Just April 26, the Senate debated for more than two hours over how it was going
to endorse the “Great American Boycott 2006 on May 1.”
The sponsors of the resolution, Sens. Naomi Cruz, College of Liberal Arts,
and Elisa Herrera, College of Education, actually considered shutting down
the University Student Union for two hours during the day to show support for
the boycott.
Unbeknownst to the average CSULB student these two senators planned to inconvenience
the entire student body for two hours by closing the USU in support of a boycott
students may not have even known about, let alone support.
Fortunately, the amendment to the resolution did not pass.
Just like our own U.S. senators, these student senators have lost touch with
their constituencies. I don’t believe they are fighting for what we want
so much as they are fighting for what they want.
It is contradictory to use your position as an elected official to put into
place something that represents your constituency when in reality you do not
consult our constituency at all.
In the case of last week’s resolution to shut down the USU, this measure
was thrown together hastily. Not that we are discouraging activism and progressive
movement, but throwing together legislation without looking at the entire picture
and considering the students whom you represent proves the point of our unfounded
student government.
When this happens in the real world, we’re sure the same senators who
propose these useless resolutions rant and rave if a U.S. rep passes legislation
that doesn’t reflect his constituency. Think about when you find out
your representative, who you voted into office, supports a sneaky attachment
onto a bill or other shady measures.
This bureaucracy at the national levels was never more evident than in its
handling of Hurricane Katrina. According to James O’Byrne, features editor
for the New Orleans Times Picayune, it took the U.S. Senate eight months to
do anything.
Finally, we see the AS Senate can be as incompetent as the national one. In
the April 26 session, it tried cutting funding from its media, namely the Long
Beach Union Weekly. After the staff came and spoke against this financial cut
and ASI Executive Director Richard Haller warned of legal consequences, the
Senate backed down. But the issue did not end there.
Sen. Todderoff brought the issue back up later when the Union staff was not
present and attempted to cut $3,000 from the paper’s budget. Sen. D’Onofrio,
one of the few senators to care about his constituency, got the’Union’s
staff back into Senate Chambers. Suddenly the senators could find the money
elsewhere.
If the Senate is so desirous of eliminating the Union, it needs to suck it
up and tell the staff to its face. While cutting the budget is cutting the
freedom of the first amendment, pussy footing around an issue because you’re
afraid to face your enemies is just as bad.
These senators need to know the student body does not support wasting their
and student fees debating and passing pointless legislation. What’s next?
“Senate passes resolution condemning high gas prices,” “Senate
sends copy of resolution to governor’s office demanding traffic improve
on the 405” or “Senate thinks bows and arrows would be better in
a fight than muskets?”
We sure hope it doesn’t come to that. But unless we say something, who
knows how far down the road of absurdity the Senate will travel? We don’t
know about you guys, but we want off at the next stop.
Sean Cocca is a senior journalism major and the news editor of the Daily Forty-Niner,
Katie Plourd is a senior journalism major and the managing editor of the Daily
Forty-Niner and Jamie Rowe is a senior journalism major and the editor in chief
of the Daily Forty-Niner.
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