Reality about ASOSU

By: Sara Gwin

Posted: 10/7/08

It pains me to write this column. It's difficult for me to criticize ASOSU because I worked there last year as the Director of Women's Affairs and I know how hard people work and how much they wish to serve the students as best they can. Many of us traded in our social lives, academics, and other jobs that could have better paid for rent and food, to work far longer hours than our stipends covered and make the most of our positions. My aim today is to question decisions of the administration (president and vice president), but not the organization as whole as I believe the students and staff for the most part do their best within the parameters given to them. I was asked to write this for those who do not have a voice; for those who love what ASOSU stands for, but who expected far more from the current administration and had no medium through which to express what they feel.

That being said, it is also difficult to write this because I was friends with them, campaigned for them, and turned down other lucrative positions to re-apply for my position because I didn't want to leave them short-changed in their quest to usher in change and re-establish ASOSU as the organization supports the students and gives them a more powerful voice. By writing this, it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back in an already-fractured friendship and working relationship.

But once they were elected, it felt like politics as usual. All of my preconceived notions about corruption and abuse of power seemed to be brought to the student government level. They hired friends, created positions for them, and had other hiring practices that wouldn't fly in any other organization. They created a new position for a friend, the Executive Chief of Staff, giving him a "third-in-command" role by elevating a non-Executive position to create it. Another issue is that he was elected to, and currently serves on, the Student/Incidental Fees Committee, which is a major conflict of interest because of his third-in-command role.

We were told to trust their decisions with no explanation and that we would learn to see that they were right. But I'm still waiting. They've made mistakes; there is no doubt about that. Mistakes are human and inevitable, but accepting responsibility and being accountable for one's actions is what builds trust, not unequivocal demands. Their actions have alienated and hurt people inside and outside of the organization, yet they act like as if they burn one bridge and they just have to build another one in a different direction for someone else.

Recently it came out that this administration refused to pay for an annual conference on sexual assault because there wasn't room in the budget. After spending over $50,000 for voter registration and $40,000 to update the ASOSU website that no one ever looks at, I'm surprised they couldn't allot some money to gain education and resources for sexual assault, which affects one in four women on college campuses. And I bet when spring rolls around, the Federal Affairs D.C. trip will still be on, costing thousands of dollars.

I was even more disheartened to learn that the Health and Wellness Coordinator position (originally Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator and Public Health Promotion Coordinator) who takes the main role in putting together Take Back the Night, Sexual Assault Awareness Month and events and programs to prevent sexual assault, was changed to a position solely about health. Sexual assault prevention is now in the hands of the Director of Women's Affairs, who will have to spend several months planning and executing those big events instead of playing a supportive role that meant other projects could be worked on during the year.

The important part about having a coordinator dealing with the issue of sexual assault is that we were moving away from focusing on it as a women's issue to being everybody's issue as well as a health issue because of the physical and psychological problems that can occur for the survivor. While the administration may not have realized the impact of its actions, many of the issues that have come up could have been remedied had it consulted the people within these positions.

There was so much hope surrounding their election this year. Alas, that hope has been tarnished by a series of irreconcilable decisions. For the sake of the students, I hope they look outside of their own agendas to do what's best for the OSU community.