In a recent press release to the Elections Committee and general student body, Tony Mecum announced the creation of the Students for Responsible Government. SRG, according to Mecum, is “a watchdog group to monitor campaign promises and rules by creating awareness about this year’s student government elections.”
Mecum, who resigned today from the EMU board, declares that he is tired of the elections being a “giant circus show” and that “for too long have special interest groups poisoned the democratic free allocation process.” He plans to wage this ASUO war with “every constitutional power granted to free paying members of this association.” The group is “nothing short of excited” and has received support from leaders across campus, according to Mecum. SRG is looking forward to the coming weeks, and is already analyzing wire tips.
Well all I can say is that it’s hight time that the UO finally has a group to keep an eye on the ASUO. Despite their stunning effectiveness as a governing body, you never know when the ASUO might misallocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to some kind of shady lobbyist group, or potentially break constitutional law. It’s great that we have upstanding men people in our student body willing to speak out against these abuses. I can rest easy tonight knowing that though ASUO elections loom on the horizon, Mecum and his group “are committed to this cause. Justice will be served.”
As though the issue of hate speech on campus hasn’t been covered enough.
ASUCSD president Utsav Gupta pulled funding to 33 campus media outlets on February 20, following coinciding with perfectly with the dying Pacifica Forum outrage.
Apparently, “Jigaboo Jones,” a local radio shock-jock, organized a party he called the “Compton Cookout” with the help of several fraternity members. Jones, in his own off-color way of celebrating Black History Month, used the ghetto for the party’s theme. The facebook ad encouraged attendees to dress ghetto style, telling men to roll with their “Jersey’s, stuntin’ up in ya White T” and women to “have short, nappy hair.” No fraternity houses hosted the party, although several members of the UCSD Greek community helped organize it.
Days after the party, outrage of the offensive stereotypes swept UCSD. And in politics, you cry to state litigators instead of mom and dad. Legislative pressure prompted UCSD authorities to launch an “aggressive investigation” (Why hello, Joe McCarthy) of the students involved in promoting the party.
UCSD publication “The Koala,” known for patently racist and provocative content, aired a public statement on SRTV objecting to the investigations. The statement used the words the words “ungrateful n—-rs” among other racial slurs, according to Adam Kissel of FIRE.
Last night saw the Winter Olympics come to an end. America won the overall medal count and host country Canada won the most gold medals. One victory celebration in general caused an uproar. The Canadian women’s hockey celebrated their gold medal victory by smoking cigars and drinking beer.
The International Olympic Committee was not pleased with the celebration and called in the international hockey committee and the Canadian Olympic International to inform them they will be investigating the situation. The biggest problem with the celebration according to media outlets is that 18 year old Marie Philip Poulin was photographed drinking beer, 19 is the legal drinking age in British Columbia.
Stories like this just prove that American media has become too sensitive. Poulin scored the only two goals in the gold medal game. She spends most of her time training in Alberta where the drinking age is 18. Yes, there are different “states” in Canada, they are called provinces or territories, for all the geographically ignorant. The team won the biggest game of their careers and achieved the highest level of success in women’s hockey. Let them celebrate with some beer. They did not drink or smoke while spectators were in the arena, give them a break.
If a 18 year old wants to drink a Molson after winning an Olympic gold medal I say let them drink up. It’s an amazing accomplishment that many strive for their whole lives. If that person score the only two goals in the gold medal game, there should be people lining up to buy her a drink. This was a goal oriented successful young woman (pun intended) celebrating with her teammates , not some high school drop out getting drunk by the train tracks.
In what was a meeting that could have put any insomniac to sleep, the ASUO was able to get through more actual business than they have in recent weeks.
UO Forensics received funding for their end of the year tournaments.
HKSA received funding for their upcoming Hong Kong Appreciation night event. The menu looks fantastic by the way, I will be attending based on that fact alone. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the ASUO ticketing office.
The Take Back The Tap resolution was passed and will be voted on by the rules committee next senate meeting.
The EMU board came in to to have it’s budget passed. It will cost 4.8 million dollars next year of the ASUO’s budget to maintain the EMU this is up $225,000 from last year’s budget.
Included in the EMU’s budget will be the Bike Loan Program which will receive permanent funding for the first time ever. If you are unfamiliar with the Bike Loan Program it is a program that allows students to rent bikes for a small fee, I believe it is a $60 deposit. Pretty much it’s a free bike for the term if you do not break it or lose it. Great program overall, if you don’t have bike next year I strongly urge you to take part in this program.
PFC came in to present their spending model which was approved. The ASUO lowered the total budgets of the 110 programs by .81%. Fiscal conservatives rejoice! That means they will not have to have repeat PFC sessions to reevaluate budgets, AKA we still have a stripper pole line item. Which will be used in our eventual long term goal of sending a OC member to the Olympics.
Overall it was a tame meeting. No out bursts, one silly hat, and a great job the PFC.
Springfield is celebrating the 125th year anniversary of the city’s incorporation in 1885. So drink some cheap vodka or head over to The Brick House and celebrate with Springfield’s finest. Today is a celebration of the town that inspired the fictional Springfield of The Simpsons.
Last night’s ASUO senate meeting passed the most recent resolution to be voted on by the rules committee next week. The resolution that we have currently does not have last night’s amendments included. We have requested the revisions, and will post them up as soon as possible. The final revision that will be voted on will come out next Monday.
When it was time for the ASUO executive announcements, student body president Emma Kallaway unveiled the newest model for the upcoming ASUO logo.
When this was revealed Sen. Ben Fisher muttered under his breath that the logo looked like a mushroom cloud sending the whole room into uproar. Kallaway mentioned that the logo had been screened by fifty people and no one had noticed the resemblance. It’s kinda like that picture that can be either an old lady or pretty woman depending on your perception. ASUO is still looking to solidify a slogan, and for that we would like to start our newest contest! Best ASUO slogan suggestion in the comments section wins a new sudsy shirt! New shirts are coming next week in green, navy blue, and black.
The meeting was a pretty tame one in contrasts to more recent ASUO senate meetings, but that all changed in the last five minutes. Senate President Gower was called out by Senate Vice President Schultz for violating the speakers list. Seconds before the meeting ended Schultz called for Gower to step down from his position.
Yes loyal readers, ASUO fight club is back, and just in time for election season.
Not Sarah Michelle Geller or Sarah Jessica Parker, but Eugenes own favorite Sarah Palin! According to the Register Guard, she’ll be at the Hilton Eugene April 23 to “speak to the faithful”. My question is whether they’ll have the meeting in the conference center or if they’ll be able to fit everyone in Sarah’s hotel room.
From what the article says, Palin’s coming as a keynote speaker for the republican annual Lincoln Day Fundraiser (they’ll be a few months behind by April 23). Republican Party Leaders have been working for almost a year to bring her to Eugene.
No information was disclosed as to how much it cost the party to bring Palin to Eugene, or how much seating at the convention will cost. Interested Republicans can sign up by calling 541-342-4166.
The new addition to the climbing wall. On the upper right is the end of the old wall.
The Rec Center is hoping to open their new rock wall this tuesday for classes. According to Dennis Munroe, construction should be complete soon but the wall won’t open for recreational climbing until safety light equipment gets in. Munroe explained that the wall won’t be given an after dark operating permit until the lights arrive.
The renovation began “the afternoon classes ended on dead week” said Munroe. Teams have been working for a little over a month now and the result is a great looking new wall. Munroe explained to me that the wall is adding 12,000 square feet, with an average of 3 holds per foot. All this translates into 36,000 new holds. The wall also boasts two whole new areas and two new cracks for crack climbers.
