1996_09 Insight September 1996

              SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 ■
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INTON
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CALIFORNIA       fi*l
IS WITH
PRESIDENT CLINTON 0t
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President Bill
Clinton
addresses a
crowd of
thousands at
Fresno's Dailey
Elementary
School. Clinton
was joined on
stage with sixth-
grader Shianne
Lenhof and
.teacher Debbie
Manning.
Clinton Charms School Crowd
**»'"*■ ^TA
Cheaper college loans
were on the minds of
many in the crowd (left).
More than 7,000 Valley
residents heard Clinton's
speech on improving
American education
(below).
Insight photos by Svea Peterson
TENSION, from page 1
John Welty, university president, said student government has
suffered from its political battles
and hasn't performed its role as a
representative of student interests
very effectively.
"They've been very ineffective
in the last four to five years. The
inability to reach an agreement on
issues has been harmful," he said.
Welty said there isn't much the
university can do to ease tensions
except to offer advice. "In the past
we've indicated that we're available to assist, but there has been
no interest in that assistance."
Welty said.
Providing services
The role of student government
is to provide services that students
couldn't provide on their own,
added Avedisian. "Things like the
big ticket items: The Daily Collegian, the Campus Children's Center. No student could do these
things by themselves.f he said.
Avedisian said that conflicts
arise when groups disagree on
how to fulfill this role of government. He also said there isn't
much that can be' done to allevi-
■ ate the battles. "The people are
there and you have to live with
them," he said.
ASI President Monreal said student
government's most important duty is
to provide a "student voice" both on
and off the campus.
"I think that one thing that has been
clouded is that we're the voice of the
student body. Wc have to, to the best
of our ability, listen to these students."
Monreal said. "We can't just go off
on our personal game for us to gain
for our opinions. Our opinions as
senators shouldn't matter."
Monreal was elected to his post as
an independent candidate. Two members of the liberal Student Empowerment Alliance (SEA) won the two
vice-presidential seats, while the conservative Reality party won a majority of scats in the senate.
Since the semester began, one of
thc vice-presidential positions was vacated, along with several senate seats.
The battles between Monreal and the
Reality and SEA parties have largely
revolved around appointing people to
fill thc vacant positions.
Damaging battles
ASI adviser Frankic Moore said she
also sees thc batUes as potentially
damaging. "1 think when they start
doing that, they lose their focus. And
I think that becomes a problem because they don't get any work done,"
she said. "I think they just need to be
objeciive. They should jusi go about
their business and keep moving on."
Moore said there is little thai can
be done by thc university lo relieve
the bickering.
"As long as they arc in accordance
wiih their bylaws and procedures,
they can do what ihey want. It's
when they run against ihe grain of
their bylaws and procedures lhat the
university has to step in." she said.
Squabbles are common
Tom Boyle, director of student
life and development, also said thc
internal dissention in ASI is very
normal and not very intense when
compared to other universities' siu-
dent governments.
The initial squabbles are a common sight at the start of a new semester, while ASI members are new
and don't know each other very
well, Boyle said.
Thc effectiveness of the siudeni
government, he added, depends on
its members' abilities to put personal agendas aside and pay attention to their constituent groups.
He also added that the battles in
the student government are to be
expected.
"They aren't going to act like
mature 35-year-olds. They're still
developing.".
FEE, from page 1
Daniels said she sent a letter to Welly
June 5 requesting thai Welty submit the
fee decrease to ihe trustees.
"He basically told me thai he heard
another student group was going to put
a referendum on the ballot restoring thc
SI6 Ice. so he wasn't going to submit
thc request to Long Beach." Daniels
said.
Welty said the request from Daniels,
to place the fee change on the Board
of Trustees agenda, came loo laic for
the fall semester.
Thc Board of Trustees meets even,
other month. The last two Board of
Trustee meetings were held July 9 - 10
and Sept. 10-11.
The fee referendum was not placed
on either Board of Trustee meetings'
agenda by Welty. When students paid
their tuition for Ihe fall semester, they
had to pay the full $16 fee. twice the
$8 they voted for last spring.
Extra funds
According to Daniels, Ihe approximately S132,000 in extra funds will be
placed in ASI's "unallocated resource
fund." Last May thc ASI senate passed
a budget based on ihe anticipated $8-
a-semester fee.
"We [The ASI senate) arc fiscally
conservative, so we're not going to
touch the money," Daniels said.
Current ASI President Tommy
Ma
il has different ideas about how
peeled windfall.
e the
"I'd like to see ihe executive stipend
restored and some of lhc clubs on campus lhat were cut from last year's bud-
gel gel some money." Monreal said.
The executive stipend was cut from
last year's budget
Ambitious dreams
Joel Earns, ASI senator from July
1993 to December 1995, said Welly's
refusal to submit thc fee decrease is
another example of siudeni government
impotence.
"When I ran lor the senate. 1 had
•dreams thai we were going to bring a
conservative revolution to the ASI."
Earns said. "1 can't believe how naive
lwas."
Earns said he quickly learned that
"the wrong i>pc ol people were ai-
"Siudent politicians, for the most
part, arc people with dim futures."
EaiWs said. "Gi\ inc ihese people power
is like handing a 16 year-old whiskey
and car keys."
Aside from iis fiscal problems, the
student govemmen! has also been unable to lul I! le as a partner with
the faculty in campus affairs.
The Academic Senate has 12 standing committees wiih student seats available. Currently, none ofthe committees
have student representation.
Melanic Bloom, chair of thc Academic Senate, said that thc problem
isn't student apathy.
"Students are juggling a lot of problems." Bloom said. "They have to balance their studies with work. They just
don't have the time to serve on com-
Slow to appoint
Richard Amdt member of the Academic Standards and Grading Committee, was at a loss to explain why
students do not serve on Ihe committees.
"It's really frustrating. I don't have a
gixxl reason why students don't serve,"
Amdt said. "I guess it's not worth their
time."
Amdt said that when he has found
students, the ASI has been slow to appoint candidates.
"I don't think past ASI presidents
have served the student body well,"
Amdt said.
The Academic Senate committees
that have vacant student positions include: Academic Policy and Planning,
Student Affairs, Academic Standards
and Grading and General Education.
Monreal said that he would make an
effort to appoint students to the committees.