I was not saying that the whole department is like this… they clearly are not. My point was that there are a few people who acted like this, and still do. I see several people more concentrated on themselves than the department.

Now, with the whole people being mad at me over me getting a role… that was one person and it didn’t last long. It was just a side example I wanted to use.

And with me stereo-analyzing my colleagues, that was so not my intention. I do not see everyone doing this. If I think you act like this, I will and have told you.

And the last point you made that I want to address is saying that I am doing this for attention. If you know ANYTHING about me, you would know that I don’t react well to people calling me out or bringing me down…. so knowing that this article would result in some of that, I did NOT do it for any selfish reasons. I’m just sick of dealing with bad relationships between people in shows. It almost made me quit a show last semester.

This article was not meant to call anyone out, so I did not want to bring up certain people or the situations that inspired me to write this up.

Once again, I respect you and your opinion… I just wanted to put my side into it.

I also can definitely understand your annoyance. That was a risk I knew I was taking while writing it.

[sic] means that the headline was not tampered with. The Griffon News does not alter letters to the editor for grammar, spelling or punctuation. “Sitting the Record Straight” was the headline indicated in the letter, which is why it was left for print and online.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic

I don’t think I have ever heard a more absurd analogy. The neither the terrorists or any average citizen is allowed to have the bombs.

The out rite ban on felons being able to have firearms started in 1968 and was all because of one incident. Every year new laws are passed making it easier for the average person to be convicted of a felony. If these so called felons are so dangerous why are they allowed out of prison? Why not ban all felons from driving cars they kill more people then guns? Ban them from owning any sharp instruments not even a pencil and make them ride around strapped to a wheelchair so they cannot punch or kick anyone. Like it or not most felons go to work, pay taxes, and have family responsibilities like everyone else. The ban on felons being able to vote and own firearms is just another unconstitutional infringement.

griifion news should do a story on call mary buckler she know how to get hold of me or email me mary number is 271-4417

I think you are tilting your hand when you protest too much. People may think you feel guilty.

As I have already explained on another opinion piece, the ban is an issue that is being brought up by the administration, NOT by SGA. A proposal came up in SGA to write up a version to suggest to the administration, as it will be pretty much our only chance to get any input. Maybe you should stop getting your information from other staff members, as it has failed you time and time again. It is the administration that does not care that the students voted down the bill. They will get lower insurance premiums if we are smoke-free, and it looks better, so they are going through this regardless of what the students want.

So, there is not going to be a vote, because this has nothing to do with SGA, and the administration does not care what the students think.

The fact is, senators have spent hours over several months now looking over our budget, comparing it to other schools, and doing all of the same things with fees, then discussing it from one side to the other. We can never ask this of students, we cannot say, “Hey, spend 10 hours over the next 3 months going over these spreadsheets while discussing it continually with other students, then come back and vote.” This is why the senate vote came about, because we knew the numbers, because we are looking out for everyone and not just ourselves, and because we believe that most students will not do either.

I am, though, for a student vote. With information provided and a specific issue, I feel hat the students have the right to decide what they want, and the right to give up that decision to others. However, student participation in this entire process has been absolutely pathetic. If you stand for anything, let your senators know! Go to senate or committee meetings, e mail the senators or committee chairs, stop in to the office and chat with the officers during any of their 20 office hours a week, come to the forums that we set up!

So far, I have seen substantially more not caring than disapproval of anything that senate has done in my year as a senator, which has saddened me. It takes hardly any effort to let us know what you think, yet we have still only gotten the opinions of the Griffon News staff and of students that we have sought out specifically. There have been too many times where the Griffon News reporter was the only person in the gallery. This is your government, these are your senators, and you should make use of us just like any resource available to you at Missouri Western.

I know that you think yellow journalism gets readers, but criminalizing the SGA for something that the administration is doing only makes you look like an idiot when everyone finds out, which they will, and discredits the paper (if it has any credit left, which I question weekly).

Let us look a a quote from another piece published by the Griffon News in November of 2011, “Life is a game about you, not the other players. You can’t change the decisions other people will make, only your own. Why would you want to change their decisions? You’re not learning anything from it and neither are they.” Now, think about this: the administration will change the decisions that you make if they ban smoking on campus, your choice becomes to do it on the sly and risk a fine (going out of your way to hide or out to your car), quit smoking, or go for a significant portion of the day. Now, this quote was taken from an article that was bashing Occupiers for trying to protest for better conditions (money out of politics that limits the people’s voices, working and wage laws, foreclosures, etc.), but the quote says that we should not fight for what we believe in, just do something ourselves, and allow policies to be passed down upon us.

If this was a student government bill, students could change it, they did in fact. However it is not, and the only way to change it is to protest the administration’s move, which the Griffon News’ article strongly declares a negative act. “Traditional students just lack an understanding of how the real world operates.” In the real world, governments are putting smoking bans in place.

Once again, students have failed to see the hand of the administration at work, and have piled the blame onto those who have no actual say. Come on guys, wake up.

As chair for the Campus Advancement Committee, I have to say that I do feel like the money that students pay should be fully used.  However, I don’t feel that Beyers and Samenus are in the right by saying that SGA is the reason for the lack of spending. Several senators have gone out into the campus and have asked students face to face what they would like to see improved on campus and we get the same response each time,”I don’t know” this discussion is a two-way street, as senators, we can only do so much.

I personally have sat down with Kelsey and Cody and have listened to their ideas for if they are elected.  Generally, they have good ideas for improving campus and student involvement.  However, some of their ideas are not unrealistic, but have been tried by past or the current senate.  Samenus’ idea about improving parking, obviously that is an issue that is on campus and that is something that the current senate has looked into.  The problem isn’t that there is not enough parking, I have driven around campus and there are plenty of spots.  The “issue” is that people don’t like having to park far away from their destination.  And a lot of it is simply that they don’t get to park right next to the building.  The majority of my classes are in Popplewell Hall and there have been times that I have had to park clear down at the end of the parking lot down by Potter Hall.  That is just the nature of the beast.  I believe that whether or not one improves parking, there will always be a group that thinks that parking on campus needs to be improved.

Let’s talk about the promise of a full senate.  They say that it is Jacob Scott that can’t get a full senate, when in reality, Scott has really nothing to do with it.  Scott has been out in campus getting students to try to get involved with SGA.  The current session has also been out trying to get students involved with the organization.  The problem comes in that because of past sessions of senate that have created this negative view that we have that students don’t want to be involved with the senate.  This year, we have been rebuilding the view students have of SGA, we have close to a full senate now, and we have senators, an executive board, and a president who truly care about improving the campus and campus life.

Speaking about our president, let me just touch base on that.  Alison Norris is probably one of the hardest workers I know.  She is in her office at least forty hours a week, serves on at least a dozen committees, takes the hit anytime something goes wrong with the student body, and on top of that is the fact that she is a full time student trying to make sure she graduates in May.  Yes, she has a wedding coming up so she needs to plan, and so she may do a little while in her office, but what people don’t understand is that even if she is working on that, she spends little time on because she has so much more that she has to do.  If she is working on it, she has no problem stopping work on it to listen to a student who wants to talk to her about an issue that they may have.  My personal opinion is that if you have to stoop to attacking the current president who is NOT running for reelection, do you really deserve to be president?  That is my personal opinion, I know that it happens all the time.  For example, Obama still attacks George W. Bush in some of his speeches.

I think this response solely comes down to this, actions speak louder than words.  Beyers and Samenus have never served as a senator nor have they been to a senate meeting before.  In the SGA Constitution, there is nothing that says that if they don’t stick to their words, that we can impeach them.  They talk about change, but is it change for the better or for worse.  They can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?

Students: you pay a fee to SGA every semester. What does it go to? New speakers and spotlights used for events across campus, televisions, a refrigerator, and tables and chairs for a new lounge in Potter Hall that all students can enjoy, money for students to go to conferences, workshops, and competitions (we just sent several theater students to a major festival that MWSU has not been invited to in 25 years!), the recycling program, and the student success seminars that help students prepare resumes, develop study and career skills, and become more employable. Oh yes, and that was just this year.

We are also working on improved campus lighting, a bus transportation system to alleviate parking and connect students with shopping and hot spots in town, forums for students to pitch ideas, having a regular clean-up system for our campus both inside and out, doing another murals for minds project at a treatment center for troubled young men, having a carnival/fun day as part of SGA Week in April, having new surveys for student interests, building an outside patio area for Wilson students,replacing broken chairs and tables in Wilson, and replacing several classroom’s chairs in Popplewell and Wilson. This last project is going to be a significant part of this year’s budget if it passes, and if these candidates actually knew about it, they would understand that we are using a good deal of money on something that students sit in for hours every day. But they do not, because they do not come to either Senate or committee meetings.

In effect, they have no clue. Senate has 18 seats filled, which is good because it leaves room for senators to join mid-semester. There are 16 on the ballot, which is perfect for the start of the new year. If we had a full senate right out, new senators would not be able to join, and might leave while waiting for an open seat. It is not as if we only have 8 senators or something! Oh, and if these two people were actually senators (have attended any three meetings and applied, went through the process) we would have a full senate of 20 individuals.

Alison maintains office hours. The point of this is so that she can be avaliable to the students who can drop in any of those 20 hours a week. Much of the Executive Board’s time is actually taken up on the evenings and on weekends with administrative meetings, faculty senate, committees such as the one that deals with general education courses, etc. Because this takes up so much of their time, they are allowed that extra time during the day when they are not with students to do things that they would normally be doing on evenings and weekends that they are instead working with the university’s administration. This is just another example of how this young man does not understand how SGA works.

I do not know either of these individuals, which is a major problem because I am a very involved senator. If they want so much change, especially with spending, why have they not attended a meeting of the Campus Advancement Committee, which deals with exactly that and formulates bills to benefit the students? I see no evidence of their claims, if they want to change anything on our campus, I need to know how they plan to do it with no experience or knowledge of the system.

I am not against any real effort by anyone to get involved on campus, anyone who wants to make a difference is A-okay in my book. However, you do not start at the top when you are approaching something new, I would never decide that I wanted to learn to ride a unicycle and therefor run off to a circus school to immediately try it on a high wire, that would just be stupid. In the same way, it would be folly for someone, however good their intentions may be, to not attend any senate or committee meetings and then run for president with the claim that their lack of any knowledge or experience would be a benefit. I would fall straight off of that high wire, and so will anyone who does not have the experience to handle the situation.

If you want to change things on campus, we meet every Monday, next week we will have senate and then a short committee meeting afterward to get us back on the rotation after President’s Day. I invite you to join us with your ideas, and we can teach you what to do about them.

A “B” is not a high benchmark, it is between average and great. Smith feels 2.5 was a fine benchmark, but this is surly at least in part because he did not meet the qualifications for a promotion. Student government is great, and having the ability to go good on campus is wonderful. However, this is now what will tag along with you for the rest of your life, your transcripts will.

“It should be very rare that adjunct faculty are teaching the same amount of courses as their full-time counterparts, Daffron said.: It should be… but I see it here all of the time, so it is clearly not rare by any means. Is it alright that we are exploiting professionals, the people who are responsible for some part of our education? No!

Molloy admits that this job takes up most of his weekends. If this man (or any other adjunct with this schedule) has a wife and children, that is not acceptable. They are working but can neither support their family on that wage nor can they spend an adequate amount of quality time with their family.

If we are talking about young, fresh-out-of-grad school professionals without families or spouses, it does not make a difference. They are never going to end up with a spouse and children if they cannot invest the time into a relationship!

“If the students are unhappy about it, that’s when we have to be concerned,” Molloy said. “If they feel that they are not getting as quality of education or feel they are being shortchanged, then that’s a legitimate concern.”

So exploiting the labor force does not matter unless the students are upset about it, apparently.

Send this to Marian. I don’t need to ask if all is well!!!

Jacob Scott
Executive Vice President, SGA
Presiding Officer, Student Senate

I will note that these were shows that were shown when the planetarium first opened last year, so we did have good shows, and surprisingly high quality ones. They are shown in a rotation just like a movie theater, so you are bound to have a not so great one every once in a while.

We have not grown any closer to achieving equality in the last 50 years at least, statistics remain the same in poverty, housing and income gaps, education (especially higher education).

After Pearl Harbor we created camps for or relocated around 110,000 people of Japanese origin. Those who had never been to Japan in their lives, never wanted to, and did not speak the language (as they were American citizens and only knew their western cultural aspects). After September 11th, 2011, we created an (unofficial of course) unjust profile for anyone who appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, especially with a Middle Eastern name. We verbally persecuted those in the United States who practice Islam.

How is this transcending “racial, ethnic, religious, gender, political, and class labels to unite as one people and face our challenges?” It is not.

Multiculturalism and diversity are not the same thing, but you seem to be using them as synonyms or at least as diversity being an extreme side of multiculturalism when they are in some ways actually antonyms.

Diversity moves for us to understand and accept one anthers differences, whatever those may be, while preserving distinct cultural groups. Multiculturalism is an evolving process in which no religion or value is central at its far end, it is constantly incorporating groups of people and leveling the plane. Community building is a common goal in multiculturalism.

And as a final note, I must have missed the part where we united…

I want to commend you on sharing your perspective on this situation. You are right this is not easy for Alissa’s family or Quintin’s family. It is a terrible situation for everyone. The loss of a daughter to death and a loss of a son to life in prison and possibly the death sentence. Words of hate do not help any one heal. We must respect these two families and pray for healing. We must pray that those in scouting reflect on this situation and reach out to boys that may be troubled. In contrast to what we may think boy scouts have issues in life they are not exempt. The Eagle Scout is a highly respected rank that holds high honor. But as we all know those in high honor sometimes fall. What these families need right now is our love & support. The justice system will do its work as far as Quintin is concerned. God is our refuge and we must seek him in all that we do.

This comment makes no sense whatsoever! Surely the food should be of good quality whatever nationality it is! And French food is amongst the best in the world! Aramack food is horrendous.

They have to make a profit just like any other company. They are an American company we should support them or would you rather have the alternative of a French or UK company?

Use a site like Ebuyersedge.com to set up saved searches. You get an e-mail whenever a matching item is newly listed. Especially good for “Buy It Now”s that are priced right.

Try a misspelling search using a site like Typojoe.com to hopefully find some great deals with items that have main key words misspelled in the title. Other interested buyers might not ever see them.

If you see an auction that you want to bid on, use a sniping service such as Bidball.com to place your bid for you. It’ll bid in the last few seconds, helping you to save money and avoid shill bidding.

So you’re saying a thief is the same exact threat to society as a psychopathic empathy lacking killer?

“Allowing felons of white collar crimes to own guns would only create loop holes for the violent criminals to crawl through and legally obtain a firearm.”

I hope you do realize that white collar crimes are non-violent. How can a violent felon legally obtain a gun if he was convicted of a violent felony, and not a white collar offense?
This remark is so fallacious I don’t know how to approach it.

Here are two phrases within your post. Guess what’s wrong with them.

“To all the those who don’t agree with this article aren’t very intelligent in the first place.”

“I am willing to hear all sides.”

Figure it out.

In your response to Mike I want to say that is pretty honorable for staying your couple of nights to support the cause.

In your quote you said this, “I did this with two things on my mind: that I had a home to go back to when I needed to do so, and that many in this country we all love do not.”

Do you honestly feel with you staying the night has changed anything? Nope it hasn’t. Those who are without home’s aren’t going to have home’s anyway. The people who are multi-millionaires don’t care about those people on the streets. They are going to go home and still sleep at night. The one’s controlling the money honestly feel that those on the streets are expressing their rights but not utilizing there minds. We can all protest on the streets but does that make it right? No it doesn’t. How will this make our world better if we complain? We won’t because complaining is a weakness that will never be overcome. For change to happen effective plans and measures need to be taken. Not this protesting and violence. No respect come from riots.

To respond to what you say to me. Sir if you realized that at the end of the day all most humans care about is their own self worth. Here is something to think about. If 55% of those 99% were offered a job. This occupy wall street will be over because the majority got what they wanted. Therefore the others will be left behind. Of course it doesn’t seem like that now because it’s so many people who have joined this so call movement. We all can’t forget about the people who work hard everyday to put food on the table and pay bills. I am sure those people are important also. Until things can be better we will always have these arguments.

I am disappointed that most who read this article didn’t understand what the editor was coming from. He was just speaking his opinion which is apart of his rights we all have. I just want you Nicholas to realize something. Arguing with me over this message board isn’t going to change anything. Now if you want change think of something? Don’t follow the crowd like everyone else. Those who change are leaders who think outside the box and/or crowd.

Some Americans express disdain for the Occupy movement, because they are working three jobs and are making their ends meet at the very tip. But the problem with this attitude is an implication that this should be the standard of living in the United States, that part time employment with no benefits is fine.

It isn’t, and I have yet to see a person with this view that happens to have any medical problems (or children with medical problems). It is fine to not have health insurance because you cannot afford $1400 a month to cover your family, until your spouse is hit by a drunk driver or your daughter starts having seizures. Then where are you?

Textbook education is a basis, but it is nothing when taken out of the context that is the real world, as if you could function in such a place. You must be able to bring your ideas, and your education, out of Missouri Western and apply it. This is especially difficult to do when you have no job in which to make use of your ideas, or you are worked so hard that you burn out just trying to survive. And if you think that this is a nice place to bring children into, good luck providing for them.

Occupy St. Joe holds General Assemblies at City Hall at 6:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All are welcome, regardless of agreement with the movement or not. Those who find themselves in solidarity with the movement are welcome to join us at 2PM Saturdays at Belt and Frederick (we have plenty of extra signs and supplies to make your own). Direct actions may take place throughout the week as circumstances dictate. If those without transportation would like to attend any GA or action, please contact me at nbrothers@missouriwestern.edu — we’ll get you there.

It’s fallacious to think that change must only come from a top-down dictation of grievances and solutions. “We” are smarter and better able to come to more equitable solutions than “I.” That’s fundamentally what democracy is predicated upon. I question why anyone would abdicate all responsibilities to a human, fallible “pen”-wielder. Not even the best among us have perfect knowledge or judgement.

If you only care about yourself Robby, that is an all too easy way of going through life, and thus understandable. Please though, do not mistake your worldview for something that is universal. Those of us who are involved in Occupy (and mass movements throughout history) care deeply about our fellow human beings, and know that change can come only by working together to find common ground, and building workable solutions based on those commonalities.

This whole strain of discussion that basically accuses Occupiers of being sheep (as per the cartoon accompanying the print version of this article) is particularly laughable considering the nature of the movement. If you were unaware, Occupy sites use horizontal democracy, and functions without leaders. Anyone is free to autonomously plan actions, to bring ideas or concerns to the General Assembly and to vote how they please in all matters. Every member can exercise a block to any matter before the GA, only overridden by super-majorities (the percentage of a super-majority varies from site to site, but the most common percentage seems to be 90%).

Ultimately, you have duties and responsibilities as a citizen of a free society to be the decider of your own actions. But that does NOT mean going it alone. What both Robby and the writer of this editorial seem to misunderstand is the basic autonomy and agency of a person; those things do not go away when you self-identify with a group or movement. If you find yourself easily subsumed by a group identity, that is not a problem that all of us have. Again, feel free to recognize or be fearful of it within your own person, but do not generalize. Your experience is not mine.

I’ve stayed out one night at Liberty Memorial, as well as the night we camped in St. Joe at City Hall on the international day of solidarity, October 15. I did this with two things on my mind: that I had a home to go back to when I needed to do so, and that many in this country we all love do not.

Rush Limbaugh started out working for the kansas city royals. he was involved with picking the goofy entertainment at games i belive. after a series of radio DJ’ing jobs, look where he is now.

Banking donations: Obama $17 mil. Romney $7 mil. Perry $2 mil.

FYI when I enlisted I was unemployed and had $50 to my name. I now have a home, 3 cars and a truck, a wife and 2 kids. One kid in college on scholarship due to her own hard work. Although I could pay cash for her education right now I choose not to because that would be wrong. Things are appreciated more when they are earned and not just given to us. If I was a socialist I would think different, but I am not. All acquired through hard work and responsible financial management(learned in Comm. College). Yes a am a college graduate too. Graduated on my own, no luck involved. Oh, I voted democrate when I was younger. It was only until I became more mature that I saw who was looking out for me. Just a Bill Oreilly quote dropped in for good measure.

I will leave you with these words of advice. A wise man I worked for said them to me. You make your own luck in life.

Trivia: Michael Dell dropped out of college after one year. He agreed with his dad he would go back if he didn’t succeed in one year. He hasn’t been back. Our community is surrounded by “Dellionaires”. His hard work had made many people millions. I would guess that you think all rich (defined as people making over &375k/yr)people attained their success by luck. Wrong!

Are you a college student? You may be in the 99% but what are you doing about it? I suggest you read my comment.

Obviously the Editor has a good point.

The first point I agree with is that we aren’t working. We are in college to learn how to be better people for society. We are given tools from the classes we take to utilize and make this society as a whole a better place. No one said that college would guarantee anyone of us a job.

The second point I want to mention is for “most” as a general term have either loans or parent’s paying for college. “Most” of us have part time jobs to be more independent to save up for retirement or having money for when we get out of college. Off the side track back to what I was saying. We aren’t in the 99%. Yes the government is flawed but isn’t everything. Yes we can do something to make a change but picketing outside of city hall isn’t going to do it. We need to use our brains and not brawn to have change happen. The age old quote goes the pen is mightier then the sword. Let me explain this to some of you that don’t quite get this reference. The “pen” meaning education is the power to unlock the knowledge of bringing change. The “sword” is the forcefulness we are seeing out on the streets. To bring this together for those who need it. The pen is going to get us farther than the sword will ever. You can date that back to history. I hopefully don’t need to bring example’s because I will be glad to.
Please find me on facebook or my website I am willing to hear all sides.
The third point I want to make the ending couldn’t be more truthful. We as humans are all about fitting in and being in a group but those who change the world all stood up and were individuals. The change isn’t going to happen with a group but with someone who is educated with the “pen” to use communication effectively to show that changes need to be made. In the long run all everyone cares about is themselves anyway.

If you want to further discuss this please don’t hesitate to contact me.