[1213] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Not A Humble Opinion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joshua Ouellette)
Thu Mar 14 17:17:35 2002
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Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20020314163440.01ec89f8@hesiod>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 16:49:43 -0500
From: Joshua Ouellette <joshua_o@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <200203142130.QAA01625@m38-370-19.mit.edu>
Okay, so there's way too much email choking up my machine for me to not
chime in:
1) The UA is only as representative as the student body wants it to be. If
you think the current UA is weak, well, don't foresake it with this b.s.
"walk away" talk. Fix it. Perhaps if these email discussions took place
at Council Meetings (which any MIT undergrad could bring up as an issue and
we'd be happy to hear it), then they might actually matter. Now isn't the
time for bitching about how the UA doesn't represent you. Find out who
your councilor is, convince them to bring your point up to us, and then
stuff will get done.
2) The election specifically: Well, if you want to be represented by an
non-substantive campaign, then sure, sell your vote. Maybe that's all you
would have been doing any ways. And its your right to sell it. I think
the UA should recognize their votes, BUT there is an election campaign
spending cap. If they're buying votes, its an election cost. If they have
a problem with that, then they are directly violating the letter of the
rules they agreed to.
3) Here's the problem with buying votes, however. Arguable, more free food
is bribing too, BUT people come together to get the food. People get out
of their rooms and talk to people while they wait in line. Even if you're
just there for the food, at least you're there, and that's worth
something. The $10 in my pocket isn't going to do a damn thing to build
community. Even if it is legal, it isn't the same thing.
4) Hey wait... have any of the candidates put anything substantive on their
posters? I sure didn't notice it. These people want to represent you, do
they not? Why not point out that none of them appear to be offering to
represent something in particular? Perhaps that's the real issue here. If
MIT undergrads took all of this more seriously, then there would actually
be a distinction between candidates and no one would sell their vote for
$10 because they would have a better denominator.
And that's how I see it.
- Josh
At 04:30 PM 3/14/2002 -0500, Karen E. Robinson wrote:
>I voted for Creighton/Brar because they weren't wasting a lot of
>money, time, etc. on paper posters, candy, free food, or anything
>else. I'm always a little annoyed by campaign posters, because it
>seems like people should have something better to do or think about
>than how to get enough attention to get elected to student offices. I
>appreciate Rhett's direct approach.
>
>Also, the UA isn't worthless. It's definitely important to have
>students who specialize in talking to the administration and figuring
>out how to represent student ideas. Rhett is pretty different than
>most UA people, and diversity makes an organization stronger.
>
>karen
-------------------------
Joshua Ouellette
Courses 16 and 24
Aero/Astro and Philosophy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
joshua_o@mit.edu
617-905-5797
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