Editor’s note: The contents of this letter have been judged to hold significance and warrant publication, but the decision was made to run the letter anonymously at the request of the author to protect the identity of the author, someone deeply involved in Student Association.

I am just one student, but my experience with Student Association qualifies me to give some insight that desperately needs addressing. At SA’s semester budget meeting Monday, the candidate for SA president, Neal Casey, did not mention his campaign. In fact, the only speaking Rep. Casey did was in favor of referring a bill for University Union’s request for $24,000 for entertainment at MayFest back to the Finance Board.

The bill merited a recommendation for zero dollars as the Finance Board did not feel comfortable spending that amount of money on UU entertainment for the same day as UU’s Block Party. Referring the bill back to the Finance Board would have given it priority over all of the other non-funded bills in the appeals process, many of which were simply lacking detailed information on their events. Sending the bill back to the Finance Board would have also created a do-or-die environment for MayFest entertainment. It would not have allowed the bill to be adjusted to a lower cost, and unless the board had a miraculous change of heart, the recommendation for zero dollars would have been approved again and referred back to the SA Assembly. Sound counterproductive?

Thankfully, another SA representative spoke out against the motion, and though nearly a half-and-half split decision, the SA Assembly failed the referral. The bill then went up for a vote for its original recommendation of zero dollars. Approving the recommendation would have allowed for the bill to go through the appeals process and would have allowed for UU to rethink its requested spending.

However, Casey voted to fail the bill that would have denied UU funding for MayFest entertainment and would have likely ruined the chance for any entertainment for MayFest at all. With another split decision, the bill was approved, and it is now eligible for the same appeals process as everything else.

My concern is Casey as a presidential candidate at all. Trying to refer the MayFest bill (and only the MayFest bill) back to the Finance Board—and giving it priority over other bills—is a sad state of appearance. Casey is the top proponent for the school-sanctioned MayFest, which has been bastardized from its original celebration of academia/party on Euclid tradition. Casey neglected to mention that this bill meant more to him than any other student at SU, as the school-sanctioned Walnut Park event was his baby from the start.

As a presidential candidate running unopposed on the platform of ‘preserving the tradition of MayFest,’ which in my opinion is foolhardy at best, he was obligated to abstain from voting on that bill. Did he abstain? No. Did he rant in favor of UU’s extraordinary entertainment cost for MayFest? Yes. Did he make the same provisions for any other organization’s non-funded bills? No.

That is wrong, and Casey needs to figure out where his priorities ought to be. He should be more concerned with the student body’s opinion and ‘Putting Students First’ (Casey’s platform quote) instead of doing his damndest to propel his own personal agenda. Casey is not my candidate for SA president.

A Syracuse University junior

 

Published on November 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm