Ah, the drama of undergraduate life
Mar. 29th, 2007 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleThis past weekend, I was at the State University of New York's Stony Brook campus on Long Island. I actually quite like the Stony Brook campus and the surrounding area (the Curry Club is a really good restaurant, worth a detour), and in some alternate universe I got over my ADD problems with math and went there to pursue a science career. So when, this past weekend, I saw a student newspaper lying around, I checked it out, and discovered a contretemps in student government.
The article is here but to sum up, apparently the SGA president has been practicing race-baiting election fraud. I find the story strangely fascinating. Part of it is the tempest in a teapot-ness of it, something that seems to underlie the SGA president's obvious contempt for the whole affair. Part of it is the small-town amateurishness of the writing (I don't mean the errors in grammar or editing*, I mean the way the reporter includes mockery from the audience, but doesn't really explain the background to the story for new readers.) Part of it is the seriousness of the student senators, and the superlatives they use to describe something as transitory as student government, when four years from now none of the officials or voters will be the same. In the end, however, what really strikes me about this story is the open corruption and bigotry the president and his cronies (reportedly) display. The article could be a tissue of lies, of course, though the awkwardness of it make it somehow more believable to me than a more skillfully written piece, but it doesn't entirely matter for my point. What strikes me is the open disdain of the SGA president for the senate's attempts to reign him in. I suspect that similar passions, similar behaviors, and similar prejudices exist in the halls of power in state and federal government--just better hidden. It's interesting to see budding politicos behaving badly before they learn the code words to cloak their evil in fair colors, as well as journalists who haven't yet learned what not to say about our leaders if they want to maintain their "access."
* Yes, I am aware that I am saying this in a sentence fragment. I just don't care.
The article is here but to sum up, apparently the SGA president has been practicing race-baiting election fraud. I find the story strangely fascinating. Part of it is the tempest in a teapot-ness of it, something that seems to underlie the SGA president's obvious contempt for the whole affair. Part of it is the small-town amateurishness of the writing (I don't mean the errors in grammar or editing*, I mean the way the reporter includes mockery from the audience, but doesn't really explain the background to the story for new readers.) Part of it is the seriousness of the student senators, and the superlatives they use to describe something as transitory as student government, when four years from now none of the officials or voters will be the same. In the end, however, what really strikes me about this story is the open corruption and bigotry the president and his cronies (reportedly) display. The article could be a tissue of lies, of course, though the awkwardness of it make it somehow more believable to me than a more skillfully written piece, but it doesn't entirely matter for my point. What strikes me is the open disdain of the SGA president for the senate's attempts to reign him in. I suspect that similar passions, similar behaviors, and similar prejudices exist in the halls of power in state and federal government--just better hidden. It's interesting to see budding politicos behaving badly before they learn the code words to cloak their evil in fair colors, as well as journalists who haven't yet learned what not to say about our leaders if they want to maintain their "access."
* Yes, I am aware that I am saying this in a sentence fragment. I just don't care.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 10:49 am (UTC)I agree with you that similar passions and behaviors exist in state and federal government: a lot of politicians, when they are students, are active in student government. I'm sure some of their bad habits start early, and campus student governments are a good place to learn some very bad behaviors.
But I think you are wrong about one thing. Given that the President (http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/sbcouncil/romual.shtml) in question is Haitian and black, I don't think he actually believes in the racial prejudices that appeared on the posters. (I doubt, for instance, that he really thinks black men are comparable to chimpanzees.) It looks like he tried to frame a political opponent. This kind of thing isn't unknown, and I can think of several cases where someone claimed to have been the victim of a hate crime, but turned out to have been responsible themselves. This is especially pernicious because it undermines the claims of people who have really suffered hate crimes.
My guess is that this will be picked up and commented on in some sections of the right-wing blogosphere, probably in a day or so.