2008 Woodie Awards
B.S. Is for ASU!
Staff Editorial
Issue date: 5/18/05 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
We were so close.
The Valley Star had an editorial ready to run in this space praising the ASU Election Committee for making a tough choice, overturning their decision to disqualify both of the top two vote-getters in the recent election and holding a new vote.
The problem is, despite urging from ASU Advisor Sherri Rodriguez, committee members resigned rather than agreeing to hold a new election.
That apparently leaves the distant third-place finisher to ascend to the presidency on the strength of only 78 votes. Total.
That's .43 percent (yes, .0043) of the 18,000 Valley students who pay for, and are represented by, the ASU.
That's not democracy.
One concerned committee member called the idea of holding a new election "The most unfair thing I've ever seen."
Really? More unfair than four students deciding that bureaucratic policies - some of which having recently been proven to violate the Brown Act - are more important than the will of the voters?
"Rules are rules," we can hear them chanting, and although hundreds of other students chose the top two candidates, a handful of voters violating the ASU's questionable election code have thrown the whole organization into turmoil. The Election Committee caught them on technicalities and now they will pay.
And now every Valley student will pay.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small student governments.
Congratulations, ASU. You got 'em. You got 'em good.
The Valley Star had an editorial ready to run in this space praising the ASU Election Committee for making a tough choice, overturning their decision to disqualify both of the top two vote-getters in the recent election and holding a new vote.
The problem is, despite urging from ASU Advisor Sherri Rodriguez, committee members resigned rather than agreeing to hold a new election.
That apparently leaves the distant third-place finisher to ascend to the presidency on the strength of only 78 votes. Total.
That's .43 percent (yes, .0043) of the 18,000 Valley students who pay for, and are represented by, the ASU.
That's not democracy.
One concerned committee member called the idea of holding a new election "The most unfair thing I've ever seen."
Really? More unfair than four students deciding that bureaucratic policies - some of which having recently been proven to violate the Brown Act - are more important than the will of the voters?
"Rules are rules," we can hear them chanting, and although hundreds of other students chose the top two candidates, a handful of voters violating the ASU's questionable election code have thrown the whole organization into turmoil. The Election Committee caught them on technicalities and now they will pay.
And now every Valley student will pay.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small student governments.
Congratulations, ASU. You got 'em. You got 'em good.
