LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear VCU Students,

I haven’t missed voting in a local, state or
national election since 1979. But VCU Student
Government elections mostly have slipped by
me. I did vote in two elections for which I
had time to read the candidates’ online statements.
That wouldn’t help much, except most
candidates haven’t learned how to say nothing
definite in a way that isn’t obvious. Some even
manage to say things that are poorly considered
and thus lose my vote.

But I do understand why most of us don’t
vote in campus elections. My doctor says the
typical VCU-teaching practice can be summed
up as “all students line up to drink from the fire
hose” (Hint: It would hurt your face-and no,
the VCU professors don’t do it on purpose; they
are also on the hamster wheel from hell).

I was disappointed by candidate behavior in
the last election, but I was busy and let it go.
This time, I’m more concerned, because I’ve been
reading fliers posted by one slate of candidates
that seem to contain internal contradictions.
We are told we need more exercise and a better
diet. Yet the same people want us to be able to
stay in the library all night, every night.

The first campaign-platform plank mentioned
above is only one example of the way the
“Students for Positive Change” party is not
running mainly on things it conceivably can
effect from SGA offices.

Diet and exercise are personal decisions that
are much easier with the support of friends or
fellow flabby Americans. Government programs
have been tried and haven’t worked.

Increasing VCU’s endowments is a fine goal,
but how is the SGA going to do this? VCU’s
endowments are what they are, because VCU
doesn’t attract or generate (through increasing
our skills) wealthy families. I suspect our alumni
are as generous as they can be.

VCU has managed this long without a
football team and the football boosters it would
attract-these boosters have shown, throughout
this country’s history, that they put their money
into (Surprise!) football, generally ignoring
academic funding. The only way they will affect
the prestige and cost of VCU will be to saddle
us with costs for buying the land, and building
a stadium for a football team – after a decade
or so of building a team and organization. If
VCU becomes more in demand, tuition will go
up with increased demand. That’s unavoidable
economics.

If that bad idea isn’t enough of a strike
against the “Students for Positive Change,” its
own vice-presidential candidate was quoted by
The Commonwealth Times as saying, “I don’t
think it’s (football) going to happen next year.
I don’t think it’s going to happen the year after
that. It won’t because President Trani is still
here.” So he’s saying outright that his party
absolutely cannot deliver on one of its biggest
positions. It’s just more populist talk-very
cheap talk.

Textbooks will become more affordable only
if college education loses value as a personal
investment. I’m sorry they’re so expensive.
Printing alone is expensive. A typical Sunday
Washington Post would cost more than $10
but for the advertisingand it’s printed on the
cheapest paper available. We could switch to
the “ransom method,” in which the work isn’t
released in any form until would-be buyers
put up enough money to compensate the work
that goes into it. Given that texts are chosen
before courses are offered, and registration is
usually months ahead, we could do this and
download an electronic text to a $200 used
laptop. I’ve done it.

But what disturbs me the most is a reaction
by SPC presidential candidate Jibran Muhammad.
The vice-presidential candidate for his
opposition, Gonzalo Aida-Brescia, said of his
party, “We’re going to make the SGA 100
percent transparent.” Here, according to The
CT, is the response from Muhammad:
“Students don’t want to know how the SGA
works. Students don’t want to know how a bill
is passed, Muhammad said.”

Excuse me, but as busy as I am, I want that
to be my decision. There’s probably more. I
know we’re horribly busy, but “power tends
to corrupt;” if people think they got in power
largely because others wanted to hand it to
them and then look the other way, it can only
get worse.

I think both slates of candidates need to be
more specific, but all the specifics I’ve read
from the “Students for Positive Change” make
me cringe at the thought that these people are
considered college material. Take the proposal to
have meal “swipes” carry over to the next term.
It’s not as if Shafer Court Dining Center has
food left over at the end of the term. Students
are taking advantage of an all-you-can-eat
arrangement to tank up in two meals a day,
because they don’t have time for three. But the
meal plans are based on three meals per day,
and we’re eating all the food.

If about one out of three meal swipes is
carried over to the next term, then Shafer
only gets two-thirds of the cost of serving the
food from the previous term. They have to
make that up somehow. Food suppliers won’t
donate to VCU; their families have to eat also.
If meal swipes carry over, Shafer either will
have to end self-service dining or will have to
raise their prices. Ask the SPC rocket scientists
about that.

No, wait, maybe I’m not being fair. Maybe
they aren’t foolish. Maybe they only think we
are-or are too busy to pay attention. It might
not matter, but I’ve been paying attention, and
– starting next term – I’m going to have time
to watch the SGA in action. Get ready.

Bill Lemmond

—-

I wish to register my concerns about the
validity of the election results and balloting
process. I know I voted for Gonzalo Aida-Brescia
for Student Government Association Senate, and
the results as posted do not reflect that. I also
know of many other students who have had a
similar experience, which leads us to question
the results from the top down. VCU deserves
free and fair elections, and I hope the SGA
will do what it can to ensure the final results
are accurate and represent the will of the VCU
student body.

Conor Murphy