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InResponse: Letters to the Editor

Metro's information security: smoke and mirrors
Making students change their passwords does not change the real problem: lax security and allowing people to take home data that they have no business with in the first place.

Myself and many other students intend to make our voices heard regarding the sorry attempt at refocusing the onus of responsibility. It does not benefit anyone to change their passwords regularly. What would benefit us all is to no longer be forced to continuously share private and vital info, like Social Security numbers, with agencies that keep asking for them, including scholarship and Perkins Loan people.

Our personal info is compromised by login capabilities in student work situations, and by personal data being allowed on people's laptops and then taken home. I argued for a considerable length of time for the right to not reveal my Social Security number to an agency taking info on Perkins Loans this semester. I asked for, in writing, the right to have personal data removed from Metro databases, and was given non-answers. I never got the response of “Yes, we can do that for you, it is your right to protect your privacy.”

The control over who can see my Social Security number, date of birth, and other private information has been denied to all students at Metro, even after the horrific security breach occurred. The onus was then on the students, who must now live in fear and monitor their credit for ever after.

Anyone working in a student worker position has access to sensitive info. This is because students are forced to give out that sensitive info. This is the real issue, and it needs to be addressed. All the rest is smoke and mirrors.

I'll be forwarding my response to more than one other agency in regards to this, including several news agencies, if this course of sticking of the proverbial heads in the sand is pursued by Metro.
Brenda Smith • bsmit142@mscd.edu

Student trustee defends SGA efforts

First off, I would like to thank Jordan Bair for her service to the college and the students over the past year and a half, first as a member of the SGA Senate, and then as a member of the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board. Her ideas and passion for the students of this college will be sorely missed.

That being said, I must take issue with several characterizations about the SGA attributed to Bair in The Metropolitan, starting with her assertion that “every member of the SGA has been guilty of the negligence that SGA President Jack Wylie has been accused of.”

This statement simply is not true, as I can list a number of members of the student government who are fulfilling their obligations to the best of their abilities. The fact of the matter is that it is President Wylie’s responsibility to nominate a candidate for vice president and bring this person before the Senate for an up or down vote.

He has had since June 1 to bring forward a nominee and has failed to bring one forward for an up or down vote for confirmation by the senate. The senate is correct for asking President Wylie why he has failed to bring forth a nominee.

More to the point, the senate would be guilty of the very thing Bair accuses it of had it not done anything and continued with the status quo.

The vice president’s seat is highly important because the person who fills the role is also the chairman of the Student Affairs Board. The SAB is the body that makes recommendations about the allocation of over $2 million in student affairs fees to various campus programs.

A full time student pays over $50 every semester for the student affairs fee. Currently, I have received preliminary support from members of the Metro State administration that the student’s input on the allocation of these fees should carry more weight than it has in the past.

I believe, as I think most do, that students should decide how their fee dollars are spent. The longer we are without a vice president, and, therefore, a permanent SAB chair, the harder it is to make the case that we, as students, are responsible enough that our recommendations for the allocation of these fee dollars should be taken seriously.

This is why the delay in naming a vice president is not “focusing on a line item once in a while,” as Bair puts it. Rather, this is a huge issue that will set precedent for years to come with regards to Metro’s SGA and their ability to represent student interests, at least from a financial standpoint.

Bair also misses the mark when she states that the SGA “aren’t working together and don’t have a cause.” The fact is that the SGA must be flexible and able to adapt to changing priorities and issues as they arise.

We cannot stubbornly stick to what we believe to be “our” priorities and ignore others that may be of a more pressing nature and impact students negatively in the short term.

Case in point: I have worked with various members of the SGA to ensure that students aren’t charged for “excessive” printouts in the computer labs, an idea that has been under consideration for over a year, with a planned implementation for this semester.

Because of the SGA’s efforts, no student will be charged to print this semester, and research will be ongoing to determine what a fair break point for printing charges will be. You can rest assured that the SGA will continue to represent the students and lobby for a fair deal as this process goes forward.

In addition to the SAB and the computer lab issues, the SGA has been involved in academic planning matters such as plus or minus grading and the proposed learning communities model currently under development by the administration.

The SGA was successful in procuring better representation with the RTD board so that our bus pass does not increase by 50 percent in a year again as it did this past year. The SGA has also financially supported a number of student organizations and events, and will continue to do so in the future.

Members of the SGA are also involved in the planning for utilization of limited campus space, an expanded Diversity Center, and a suitable spot for amplified sound on campus that satisfies faculty’s academic concerns as well as students’ needs for campus events.

Members of the SGA have met with state legislators to ensure Metro State is not overlooked when it comes to state higher education funding, and will do so again once the state legislature convenes this fall and winter. Many SGA members are involved in a wide variety of issues and topics too numerous to list here.

Holding members accountable for their responsibilities, which are vital to our role and mission, is not “tearing apart one of our peers,” as Bair put it in her resignation speech.

Rather, it is doing the job we were all elected to do, which is to serve the student body in the best way we can.

It is perfectly legitimate to question why a highly important position has been vacant for four months without so much as a single nominee being brought forward for consideration.

This is my third year as a representative on Metro State’s SGA. This is probably the thousandth time I have heard that “we don’t do anything,” and frankly, I’m tired of it. I know better and I am not going to allow a group of hard-working students being disparaged because they want to know why a nominee for a vacant seat has not been brought forth in a timely manner to go unchallenged.

But don’t just take my word for it. Stop by our office on the third floor of the Tivoli and see what we’ve been up to, or suggest something we ought to look in to. You can also contact me directly at the e-mail address listed below.
Brain M. Glotzbach • bglotzba@mscd.edu