[1093] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: So That's Your Price?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard J. Barbalace)
Wed Mar 13 10:52:34 2002
Message-ID: <200203131529.KAA15283@starbase.mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 10:29:31 -0500
From: "Richard J. Barbalace" <rjbarbal@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 13 Mar 2002 02:42:00 -0500.
<5.0.2.1.2.20020313022244.022e26a0@hesiod>
Young whippersnapper Kelly Zimmerman writes:
> Do those of you that vote in the election know about the position? Do you
> know what a person in that position can do? Do you know what they have done?
I am an alumnus. I first came to MIT 12 years ago. I've watched
every single UA election since then. I've read about every single
major UA decision and event since then. I was here when the Bush Fund
controversy first arose by disclosure in The Thistle and The Tech.
I've known people in the UA Council, and a few UAPs have been among my
friends. I'm obviously not voting in this election, but I do know
about the position. I do know what they can do and what they have
done. Would you like to know?
Nothing.
That's perhaps a bit harsh, as they have done some small good in some
cases, but overall the UA has never furthered the interests of
students by improving meal plans (that was done by student action
directly), preventing all-freshmen-on-campus housing (that was done
primarily by other student groups, albeit without final success), etc.
Look at all the areas of student life that have majorly changed in the
past decade, and you can ask whether the UA had any significant effect
on the outcome.
As for how the Bush Fund has been used in the past, go back and read
the Thistle and the Tech articles from that period. It's been used
for everything from pizzas for the UAC to paying the housebill of the
UAP. Few years has it ever benefited students, and the alum who
donated the fund never intended it for that purpose. Of all the
proposed ways of spending the money, Rhett's scheme seems like a fine
one, and probably more beneficial than most.
One should wonder why the UA still even exists. Why have a
representative democracy for a population as small as MIT
undergraduates, especially when it's neither really "representative"
nor "democratic"? How effective a liaison between the student body
and the administration is the UA? Perhaps those $5000 should be spent
to hire a couple of student programmers to write a web-based
referendum system so all students could directly vote on all issues of
importance, as a complete replacement for the UA. They could probably
even get additional funding if needed as an iCampus proposal.
That some undergraduates feel there must be a UAP is a disheartening
thing to hear. The naivety of those young ones who expect the UA to
accomplish great feats of student-administrative progress will
eventually be replaced by the dismal realization that the UA is
largely ignored by the administration. No UAP has the power to change
that any time soon.
Kelly, I would like to hope that I'm wrong about this, and that you
are spared the fate of becoming a bitter cynical alum like most of us.
But I really do think you will be doing more to make the world a
better place by taking that $10 and giving it to your favorite charity
than having it spent on yet another unfinished soggy pizza that grows
mold in the UA office before getting discarded.
To me, the saddest part of all this is that those UA insiders are so
pretentious that Rhett's unusual generosity is seen as a threat. I
hope they grow up and let Rhett do what he pleases if he wins.
Josiah, Jennifer, Rhett, good luck!
+ Richard J. Barbalace '97
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