Archive for the ‘Letter to the Editor’ Category

In recent weeks, the Griffon News has published several articles belittling the last SGA Administration. This saddens me. My executive board worked around the clock throughout this last year, and I believe it is time to give credit where it is due. This year we:
-Created a parking, recycling, health, smoking, and technology committee. Each of these committees was ran by a student leader, and open to the entire student body.
-Held MWSU’s second largest Spring Concert: Puddle of Mudd.
- Increased organization unity and growth, and over doubled the number of participants in the SGA year end awards from last year.
-Helped fund and bring the national Resident Assistant Heartland Conference to MWSU’s campus.
-Doubled the amount of student forums held with Administration from last year.
-Over doubled the amount of legislation that went through SGA Senate from last year, and furthermore encouraged dissent in the Senate instead of groupthink.
-Organized a community service project called Murals for Minds that united the MWSU campus. The event’s planning committee consisted of over 6 independent organizations on campus. On Saturday April 10 & April 17 over 100 volunteers helped paint 13 murals on Mark Twain Elementary’s school walls.
-Created the first student written proposal in over a decade called the Technology and Recycling Fee to further advance technology and recycling initiatives on campus. (The students voted and the proposal failed. Does that make SGA a failure? No. If the students never got to vote, then SGA would have failed. If everyone voted one way, then SGA would have failed. But that was not the case. We gave students what we promised when we came in this year: a voice!)
SGA’s 2009-2010 Executive Board, Senate, RC, and WAC members should be very proud of themselves for their accomplishments this past year. I love each and every one of them, and hope they look past the last few Griffon News articles that have called SGA an “utter disappointment.”

I have a feeling this will be the last letter I’ll ever write to the Griffon News since I’m graduating very soon; so to everyone I’ve ever met or worked with at this University, it’s been a pleasure. The people at this school are amazing, and are going great places. It is awesome.
Joshu Todd
Former SGA President

To whom it may concern:

In response to the April 15, 2010 issue of Griffon News Editorial.

Just as happens in most communities, the votes of a few have decided an issue. Perhaps the outcome actually represents the opinion of the majority since the economy is so poor. However, can we accurately make this claim since only a fraction of the students voted? What scientific methodology did the Griffon News staff use to confirm that the fee would have passed if only SGA officers had been more “prepared”? Did the Griffon News effectively inform the public? Let me offer my solution to the issue; let’s create a better relationship between the SGA and the Griffon News. Let’s embrace a cooperative effort to achieve positive outcomes and refrain from deceptive discourse.

Thanks for your commentary and support,
Jacob Scott
Parliamentarian & Student Senator
Student Government Association

Staff Response

Jacob Scott

Thank you for submitting a letter in response to the April 15 editorial. The Griffon News respects your position and obvious disagreement and we appreciate your pro-addictiveness in student politics.

The fact is though, Jacob, that not all students are as willing to engage themselves as you are. Students either don’t have the time or interest in the issues to get involved. This is where the Student Government Association plays one of its major roles. The SGA, spear headed by the president, are solely responsible for educating the public on any issues they wish to pass. This is called a direct line of communication—which has been lacking all this year.

As far as The Griffon News’ duty to the public, three stories were published on the proposal (Feburary 5, March 5, and April 2, which can also be found online). The final story’s headline read “Western students vote on technology recycling fee April 7th-9th.” It was the most detailed, describing how much the fee would cost and the provisions that the proposal called for. The article mentions Gordon Mapely, the Dean of Western Institute, who helped co-author the proposal, stating why the technology fee is needed. No doubt, the fee had support from the administration, especially in this current economic climate, but the administration is not enough to convince students why the proposal was important.

The Griffon News can only educate the public so much; at the end of the voting day only the SGA can be blamed for a failed vote. A failed vote can occur for several reasons, but it is the opinion of The Griffon News that the major contributing factor was the lack of communication from senior members of SGA to the public and in some places even within the SGA.

Government should never rely on newspapers to be their direct line of communication with the people they represent. As mentioned in the editorial, a public forum directed and advertised toward students to ask questions and respond to the fee would have been an appropriate response to opening the communications channels between SGA and the students. Senate meetings are held for senators and are not primarily for students to voice their opinion.

The Griffon News never attempted to speculate how the voters would have voted if SGA had been more pro-active in their communication. It is logical to conclude though, had SGA been more prepared (held more forums, prevent political divide among the senate, educate the students, and open the lines of communication between students and SGA) then voter turnout would have been higher than roughly 10 percent.

In response to your final sentence, The Griffon News and SGA have a healthy relationship as is proven with the coverage of the Technology and Recycling fee. Jacob, the issue though isn’t the relationship between The Griffon News and SGA, but instead SGA and the public.

The Griffon News will always “refrain from deceptive discourse” but to be clear, The Griffon News is not a propaganda tool for the SGA. The Griffon News in a student outlet and open forum for everyone on campus. The Griffon News will not “embrace a cooperative effort to achieve positive outcomes,” because that is not our duty to Western. It is instead, SGA’s duty to convince both the students and The Griffon News that your positive outcomes are indeed positive.

Once again, thank you for responding to The Griffon News editorial. We encourage every student to speak their mind.
Respectively
The Griffon New Staff

I am writing in regards to the recent article publish in the Griffon News entitled Phi Mu suspended by nationals due to low membership written by Dave Hon. As the most recent Vice President/Treasurer of Phi Mu Zeta Pi I find the recent article very disconcerting and am astonished that in writing such a piece an officer of the chapter was not contacted to verify information. As you well know there are two sides to every issue and I find it in bad taste to only report one perspective without even attempting to give the other side a voice. You will find attached a copy of the minutes from the first meeting in which Mr. Hon alludes to as a conspiracy meeting. It is simply not true. Below is an excerpt of a variation of a letter(s) generated to the Pan-Hellenic Faculty Advisor, CSE, and President Vartabedian.

“August 1, 2009 by a 3-1 vote of members present and in good academic and financial standing in accordance to Phi Mu National Constitution and Bylaws Phi Mu Zeta Pi will not be returning to campus pending National Council approval.

You will undoubtedly hear that things were unfair and I can assure you they were not. First, this meeting was scheduled more then 3 months ago and the issue at hand was tabled at our July meeting giving the members 3 weeks to make arrangements to be there. These summer meetings are a requirement from nationals and a $50 fine is imposed for not attending.

Therefore any who were not in attendance cannot say it was unfair.

Second, those who were not in academic or financial good standing were not allowed a vote; again this is clearly stated in the constitution and bylaws of our fraternity. Members have had the opportunity to pay their bill since January 1, 2009 therefore those who had not done so as of 10:00 am Saturday August 1, 2009 were not allowed to vote. Members that are not in good academic standing have been put on academic probation through MWSU and again in accordance to our constitution and bylaws do not get a vote and are on probation within the organization. Third, I would like to point out that our calendar of meetings and our constitution and bylaws are publically posted so anyone claiming unfairness is doing so because they do not like the decision made because it does not agree with their opinion.

I understand that to do things their own way but the decision was made democratically. I would like to inform you that we do have the complete support of our National Council and any attempt to tell you otherwise is wrong. If you have any questions concerning the validity of this letter please contact Robin Fanning, Phi Mu National President at np@phimu.org.

This decision was not an easy one to make. Zeta Pi has been struggling to meet national requirements for quite some time now. We are the lowest ranked chapter within Phi Mu Fraternity. You will hear that the 3 that voted to voluntarily close are selfish and too lazy to do the work and that is simply not true. We, along with other members not present are all in agreement that it is not fair to bring new members into a struggling organization. These women are seeking a positive Greek life experience and we can not give them that. I have spoken with the Pan-Hellenic President and voiced our eagerness and willingness to promote Greek life on campus with her as well. We are willing to do whatever it takes for the advancement of Greek life but also realize that Zeta Pi is not beneficial to Greek life on campus at this juncture.”

There were individuals that were unhappy with the results of the vote and petitioned to the National Council claiming we were 1 member short of a technical quorum. This was not true, there were enough members present at the meeting however, two of them were not in good standing and were not allowed to vote. There ability to vote was irrelevant to quorum it was their presence alone that qualified as quorum. Robin Fanning, National President of Phi Mu Fraternity called a special meeting of the National Council. This meeting was NOT to discuss the validity of the vote asking to voluntarily shut down; the vote had already been accepted. The intention of the Council was to asses the future of our chapter. You see we voted to ASK to be voluntarily shut down. Just because we ask does not mean Nationals will allow it, the National Council must vote on whether or not to suspend the chapter. That was the intention of the council meeting.

Shortly after the council meeting two representatives came to Western to meet with the chapter in order to deliver the decision of the National Council. This decision was based on many factors; membership total, financial stability, and the ability to meet national requirements. After assessing the past several years the council decided that the best thing for the chapter was to suspend the charter.

In delivering the decision the representatives also notified the chapter that we had 30 days to appeal the decision of the National Council. In order to appeal the chapter would one, need quorum of all active members and two, need a majority vote of active members in good financial and academic standing in accordance with the national constitution and by laws of Phi Mu Fraternity. The chapter decided to vote on whether or not to appeal the National Council’s decision. At this meeting 9 of the 11 members were present qualifying quorum; the two members that were not present were not in good financial standing and would not have been allowed a vote. One member present did not vote because she was granted ICMS status meaning she was inactive for the semester. A silent vote, counted by the National Representatives resulted in a majority vote (5:3) NOT to appeal the National Council’s decision. It is understandable that Alumni and Active members alike will be upset.

Being one of the individuals who voted to ask for voluntary shut down and not to appeal I can assure you that this was not an easy decision. It is very easy to make an emotional decision, it is not so easy to make a more logical decision when you KNOW that it will hurt people you care about and lead to massive repercussions. I know that the decision has upset many Alumni but I truly feel given the state of the chapter it was truly what was best for the chapter at this time. This decision has led to many immatthat feel that the decision was in the best interest of the chapter.

That is our burden to deal with and I feel that we are maintaining an advance level of maturity while being referred to as such names as the Anti-Christ’s. The last thing that we need is the Griffon News condoning and encouraging such behavior.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this issue. However, that does not mean that the issue should not be presented fairly and accurately. On behalf of the MAJORITY of the members of Phi Mu Zeta Pi I am asking for a correction statement in the next issue of Griffon News.

I wish that I could generate the letter given to us by Nationals for publication but it was specifically stated that the letter was not for publication. However, if you would like to contact Colleen Kowich, Pan-Hellenic Advisor, the National Representative presented her with a letter from Phi Mu National Fraternity as well. This letter is NOT for publication either but you may use it to verify that it WAS in fact the decision of the national council.

Sincerely,
Kerri Rollins

 During  the strange period of human history called the 1980’s, there was an outbreak of inspirational posters that found their home on the walls of many a high school counselor’s office. A favorite that garnered a following was the phrase “today is the first day of the rest of your  life.” It means that each day is new beginning and every ending chapter should simply be viewed as the start of a new story. Western has said good bye to a number of familiar faces this last year and  is now opening its doors to new names and positions with an incoming President of the university and the Griffon News has a staff made up almost entirely of students who have never manned the helm of a college newspaper. Read more: New beginnings mean new opportunities