An article in today’s Gateway caught my eye.
Student senate finishes 2004-2005 with heavy debate - UNO Gateway
The story begins like this…
Soaked student senators braved the heavy rain last Thursday to attend the final Student Senate meeting of the semester.
On Thursday, I had to brave the rain to make phone calls for Mayor Fahey but no one wrote a news story about me. After I expressed this concern, I was quickly informed that the Student Senators melt in the rain so that is why this story is newsworthy. I’m happy and a little sad to report that no Student Senator was lost due to the rain.
And the story gets better (or worse)…
In other business, the students discussed ‘rock, paper, scissors’ as the deciding factor in a tied senate vote.
The Rules Committee presented its final set of rules for senate elections. In the case of a tie, the committee decided on using the game ‘rock, paper, scissors,’ to decide the outcome of the election.
The rules passed as is, ‘rock, paper, scissors’ included.
People this is your student government and student fees at work. This is a group of people that allocates over $250,000 a year in student fees. By the way, it is a group that gets $40,000 a year of student fees deposited into its bank account.
I want to know the names of every single person that voted for this. Our Student Senators need to be held accountable for every single vote they make. I went to the UNO Student Government website to obtain the minutes from that meeting but it seems they are still in the 17th century. Instead of updating their website so students can find out what’s going on (and where money is being spent), they are to busy voting on important matters like who is the funniest of the The Three Stooges.
In other news, the Student Senators are also considering abolishing elections for Student President/Regent. Those interested in running for Student President/Regent will have to compete in a watermelon seed spitting contest. The person spitting the seed the farthest will win the “election.”
After passing the “Rock, Paper, Scissor” resolution, Richard Fitzwell, a freshmen Student Senator, made a motion to allocate student fees to fund a trip to the Rock Paper Scissors International World Championships. Fitzwell said, “If I’m to be an effective Student Senator, I need the proper training.”
That resolution failed, but the Student Senate agreed that student fees should be allocated to buy every student senator The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide.
That’s funny…but it’s also sad. Those student senators are acting like real US senator.
i heard there was like this one student senator
who was named like layne or someth’n
and she’s like a republican or somethin
and like that’s what I heard.
(jk)
Wow, that is really sad that are student fees are going towards that. I have been so angered this semester, after finding out all the ways our money and some of our parents money is being spent. The budgets for these kids to spend is ridiculous. I say we need some good canidates to take over the senate at uno next year. Maybe i will even be interested in running. I think there needs to be more control on the way our money is being spent or the studnet fees need to be cut. I wish more people knew this information. That should be our next project, lets educate the student body and their parents(some who pay for their kids schooling) about the ridiculous ways our money is being spent and lets see what kind of reaction we can get. The more people who know the better. There has got to be a way we can get this stuff in order or changed, any suggestions lay them out there please. Thanks
It sounds to me like they were just joking around. I don’t think it’s really worth complaining about.
Okay so does anybody know what pisses me off the most? It’s when people make decisions on issues and crticize people about things they know nothing about. That’s pretty much what you guys are all doing here. Were any of you actually at the Student Government meeting? Are any of you student senators? Do any of you actually know what little power our student senate has compared to other colleges? No i don’t think you do. I happen to be a student senator and let me tell you a little bit about exactly what we do. Yeah we “allocate” the budget, we allocate it to our different programs like SPO, SOP, AMS, ISS, NDS, and WRC. We have the power to allocate this money within our own organization, but do we actually make the budget for the whole university? The answer is no. Fact is we don’t have nearly as much power as other major universities, our administration basically controls everything else outside of our own budget. Even then, we usually have to get everything we allocate funds for approved by the administration, something most schools are not required to do. So if you have a problem with certain things that are done, maybe you should actually ask senators what they did about it because i guarantee you there are decisions that are made that we have no control over. About the rock, paper, scissors issue this was brought up in the rules as a way to determine if, in the extremely unlikely case, there were to be a tie in the election of a senator how we would decide which senator would get the position. In Lincoln they do a coin toss, but our thoughts were that we wanted to give people a two in three chance to get the seat and give them a little more control over the decision so the only person they can blame if they lost is themselves. I guarantee you the likelihood of a need for this is slim to none, but nevertheless we need to make sure it’s there. Now if anyone has any further issues with this feel free to talk to me about it. I am a student senator and i do care about how you guys feel and what your concerns are, but don’t criticize the student government over things you have no real knowledge about other than what spin someone else puts on something that i admit may seem funny. If anyone has any concerns they would wish to discuss about anything let me know.
Layne-
First off, you are right. We for the most part on this blog are not student senators. And for the most part, we do not know as much about the student government as you do. But that in now way dampens our right to question what goes on in the meetings. Afterall, the very nature of the student government is that you represent us, the students. And from reading the article (if you haven’t already I suggest you do) it’s very easy to draw the conclusions that were reached in previous posts. This group and website prides itself on questioning their leaders and has been doing it all year long. People have to question what’s going on in their government, and granted, this is a very micro-level of government, as THE political voice on campus we should report on whats going on. I hope you don’t take offense to anything anybody or myself has said. The criticism is very much like that that the Congress has endured recently because they are playing with the steriod abuse issue in the MLB. It just seems like our money could be better spent on more important issues. And if I’m completley off base, please tell me. But if we really want to help change things as an organization we need to look at things besides those issues in D.C., and speaking out about our student government is one way to make our voice and opinions heard and help make changes that will directly affect our student body.
Layne- I voted for you, and got several people I know to as well, so don’t take this the wrong way: but being mad at people who are taking an active role in trying to learn more about student gov., and criticize where it seems obvious isn’t exactly good student gov. Buying the whole student senate copies of the Rock Paper Scissor’s guide? Not exactly a great use of student funds. Using that money to say, provide food at a spo event, like the UNO Dems Co-Sponsored UN-USA Relations summit friday night: maybe a better use.
If our criticisms are off-base, inform us. Defend the votes. We ask nothing less or more from Senators like Nelson and Hegal.
Granted, it’s a thankless job being in student gov. But not so thankless that you all don’t seem to want to do it again year after year.
And CODY- I don’t know what you’re talking about. We elected Osborne for one reason and one only: he expertise in pro and college sports. Let him do his job man. He’s a pro. Osborne in 08!
Actually, the part about buying everyone strategy guides was made up. And Richard Fitzwell is a fictional character (and an inside joke).
An FYI to the readers….
There are certain authors of comments listed above that reference to the Student Government Website. As the Public Relations Executive I must inform you (as I have already done in this case in February) of website changes. The University controls our website which in return prevents us from making timely changes or even updating it what-so-ever.
In February I began my term as the LPR and initiated the process of building an entire new site that will incorporate every aspect of the Student Governing Process. At that time it was announced that there would be a new website and then again in subsequent meetings. Sometimes you might have to do a little research in order to understand the entire picture.
One must understand that things don’t happen immediately as there are many processes that must take place in order to do so. The UNO Democrats should understand after all wasnt your website hijacked and turned into a pornography site? We are preventing these occurances by taking additional steps that may result in time delays.
NOTE: Our new site will be up and running prior to the start of the Fall Semester.
If anyone has any questions or comments please let me know by either emailing me at awilliams@mail.unomaha.edu or calling me at 554-2620. The Student Government office is located on the 1st Floor of the Student Center just behind the Del Weber Fireplace Lounge and it is staffed from 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday including the Summer Sessions.
Student Government is here to serve you….
Thanks for the update Alex.
I sent an email to pjbennett@mail.unomaha.edu requesting the minutes from the meeting on April 21st. I also requested a list of Senators that were in attendance at this meeting and how they voted on the “Rock, Paper, Scissor” issue.
Do you think you could email that information to unodemocrats@yahoo.com.
sorry about the mixup. and then I go and write a party fake post righ after it that mixes fake quotes with real ones.
I don’t think this session of student gov has done perfectly…but all in all I think they’ve done pretty well. props to you all, and thanks for the dialogue on this website.
For “Rock Paper Scissors” to be in affect, the elections would have to be an exact 50% tie. The concept does sound childish but there are a few facts you must know about. Almost every college in the United States utilizes a coin toss for a tie. There was talk of having another run-off, but you know and I know that run-offs exhaust the student body’s vote. I.E. lack of communication between election facilitators and students and does not truly represent the student body. Then who has the decision to pick the new Student Body President of UNO. There was talk of Student Government doing so, but I highly doubt you would want selected students to vote twice whether they represent you or not. Would you want the faculty to choose the new president…if that was case why do even vote in the first place. There may be a better solution to the problem and the election rules are reviewed every year. So, instead of repeatedly bashing on the concept, try to come up a solution and make your postings more productive and earn some respect in what you take pride in (i.e. questioning your leadership). I admire that you question your leadership but if you would like to get serious and find out why each senator voted pro “rock paper scissors”, do some research, and try to come up with a solution, have a discussion and above all, have an intelligible, organized response to student government.
I am amazed how many people take a stands on an issue before reviewing what the issue is really about. It is understandable that people will question the actions of any representative body that is over them, especially if something doesn’t sound right. The problem is when people begin to transition from questioning policies to taking satirical jabs at the representatives that are working on behalf of the students. Even though people do have the right of free speech, I would hope that if jabs were made, they would be based off of well informed opinions.
Many people do not understand what Student Government really does. I don’t fully understand everything that occurs, but I have attempted to learn more. So instead of pointing fingers, I as questions. From what I learned this year, where were many people on the student senate that put a lot of time and effort into resolutions that would benefit the students at UNO. I don’t always agree with some of the resolutions they pass or reasons for allocating money, but I realize there are different needs for different people. The reason we have senators that are from both colleges and classes is that there are many different points of views on our campus. I do not expect everyone to share my point of view. I may not agree with other’s point-of-view, but I do try to understand.
Criticism may affect change, but constructive criticism affects constructive change.
“I am amazed how many people take a stands on an issue before reviewing what the issue is really about.”
In that case, let me welcome you to Earth! Enjoy your visit.
I’m a student senator. Before joining I empathized a lot with the article (can I call it an article?). I guess as a senator I’ll post my 2 cents.
Student Government isn’t really a government; we have almost no power to do anything, and no reason to “govern” students. We get along fine; but to make sure students aren’t completely ignorant of how the university works, it does help to have a student group that stays on top of things. The only thing SG has in common with normal governments is that we do things that most constituents find absurd, unneccessary, and wasteful. But we do some cool things; I think a new tree celebrating Arbor Day is in the works.
Regardless, this site is pretty cool. I encourage you guys to keep posting about us, even if it’s just dumb satire. Though pointing out made up parts from fact might be a good idea.
Wow, look at all these new visitors and comments. I need to criticize the UNO Student Government more often
I will try and post a response to the comments above as soon as I can. Right now I’m too busy studying for finals 
1) As a student senator, I objected to the “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and even suggested a more democratic method of choice, that of decision by the elected representatives, much the same as might happen in a state or national election where no clear majority was won. I still object to “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and I intend to continue to voice that opinion.
2) The choice of articles, or particularly the titles and “catch phrases” of them are not decided by Student Senate, but rather through the Gateway. If you have an objection to the stories they cover, you have my blessing to make that objection to the ones who make the decision. That’s not us. We do not have a choice in our allocation of money to the Gateway, only to a limited degree in how much money.
3) If you think things should be run differently, run for office. I’m perfectly willing to support logical and beneficial changes to Student Government.
1) thanks to the visitors for being 8 thousand times better at expressing yourselves than our usual (gop) visitors.
2) I think there should be more student senators from college dems, and I very much hope next year that at least half a dozen more run (I’ve heard Cody and Amanda talk about it… Ryan, Chad, Karlee, the freshman from Bellevue West who’s visited us a bunch of times, those would be other good people that spring right to mind)
3) i apologize for not giving our senators enough credit to know they wouldn’t vote themeselves copies of the strat. guide. And I agree that 9 times out of ten the administration is the real bad guy, not our student reps.
Rock-Paper-Scissors was actually Plan B… As a junior class senator I proposed playing a game of Beer-Die to settle the situation but at UNO it would only be allowed to be done in the parking garage and since the lighting is not adequate for officiating we settled on ROSHAMBO for the final decision!
Jason-
Now thats what I like to see in my student goverment. Keep up the good work!
Damnit cheif, I thought the rock paper scissors manuals were true. Either way, it does seem kind of weird. I didnt mean to offend anyone on student government, esp. since one of them is a good friend. I still feel strongly about the change needing to take place in the student government, and understand that maybe certain things are out of their control. Maybe that is something that needs to be discussed with the administration so that the student government can be more efficient and more proactive around campus.