Insight

THEIR OPINION

By Kurt White, SGA Senator, with Senators Josh Holle, Joel Pyle, Danay Powers, Oscar Pena and Dana Allen

Franklin doesn't know this SGA

As a newly appointed senator, I've heard a lot of criticisms lately about the SGA. The latest is Mr. Alan Franklin's attack in the Sept. 15 issue of The Metropolitan. I'd like to clear up some of the misconceptions that are being perpetuated. First off, there are only three returning SGA members from last year. The nine senators are all new and had nothing to do with last year's election process, except for being the inheritors of an SGA that was victimized by the poor choices and decisions of the former election commission and partisan candidates.

As chairman of last year's election commission, many of the election's problems can be laid at the feet of Mr. Franklin himself due to a series of ill-conceived and unethical decisions. This includes the writing of the election bylaws and procedures in collaboration with a standing SGA member who had a vested interest in a specific presidential candidate. He allowed the last-minute removal of policy, preventing polling stations not run or approved by the election commission, with apparent self-interest in mind. His resignation and the subsequent dissolution of the election commission midway through the process was one of the primary reasons the election was thrown into chaos. This, again, served his self-interest as shown by his almost instantaneous appointment to co-chair a candidate's campaign and run as a write-in candidate himself.

In the short time that the new SGA has been in session, we have faced the difficult task of overcoming last year's disarray and streamlining the process so there is not a repeat situation, not exactly an easy feat considering that 75 percent of the members are new. This includes many hours spent approving the newly rewritten election bylaws and policy manual in order to assure they are fair, equitable and will ensure a smooth election process this year. In addition, we have been involved in such issues as gathering information on alternative sources of health insurance for students (stop by the SGA office for a list of providers), fighting for freedom of speech on campus, restructuring of fund allocation in order to create a more equitable distribution to benefit all student groups, and we had a hand in organizing donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

As for Mr. Franklin's personal attacks on the new SGA organization, I'm surprised that he was able to form such opinions without ever having come to any meetings, introduced himself to any of the new members, or taken part in any way other than to complain about last year's problems.

Perhaps the reason for this is that Mr. Franklin is actually unaware that the majority of the current SGA was completely uninvolved with last year's election process. We strongly encourage not only him, but all students to come meet with us, work with us and get to know us before attaching last year's baggage to an almost entirely new organization.

We have weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. in Tivoli 329 and our offices are in Tivoli Room 307. Please come by and speak with us. We're here to represent the student body and we more than welcome your input to help guide our actions and improve student life.