So I get some feedback from my friend Duke Rescola, a fellow Viking, and the current editor for the Daily 49er, and he comes in with a head full of steam regarding the issue with ASI's perceived [sic] inability to take action on those fee increases. Here's what he had to say. (Edited for professionalism [sic].)
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Jo-Ryan,
Would dozens of unanswered phone calls to Andrews and other reps during a two week period, messages left on BlackBerry, and visits to ASI offices, unanswered e-mails, etc. count as attempting "sufficient research?" We also are students and ASI does not deem us or this issue important enough to answer queries. If they did, they would live up to their responsibilities and address "student" concerns. Or are they going to sit on their hands and wait until the CSSA makes a decision for them?
Great leadership. By March, collecting the necessary signatures required to be collected by April to get this initiative on the ballot will be another instance of the "tail wagging the dog." More great leadership.
We tried extensively to get Mark Andrews to say something, anything,but he hid and did not reply. If any misinformation gets printed after exhaustive attempts to get their side of the story, it is the fault of the "elected" representatives. Nothing expresses contempt more than an elected officials' "No comment" besides "I'm not even going to give the courtesy to return phone calls."
If Mark wants to ignore the important issues that affect his constituents who elected him to an office for which he gets free tuition, stipends, parking privileges, padded resume and other perks, it seems he owes us some type of leadership. Instead we get a "we'll see what others tell us to do" followers. Our ASI, including Andrews, didn't have the courtesy to attend the CSU Board of Trustees meeting where the budget impact was discussed, even though it was right here in Long Beach. But ASI leaders from Sacramento, Chico, San Diego and Stanislaus, to name but a few, attended and voiced their concerns on behalf of students at their campuses.
I and my assistants made numerous attempts to contact Andrews and the ASI over a period of a week. We went to their offices, left messages to call us back and sent e-mails. It's funny the BlackBerries our student body has spent tens of thousands of dollars on didn't work all of a sudden. They never had the courtesy or respect to return our calls. We stand by every word in the editorial because of everything I've outlined.
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Numerous attempts, huh? Guess they just didn't know when enough is enough at that time.
And after disseminating the countless unsuccessful attempts, he gives this:
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You also are culpable of doing exactly what you've accused us of. [The fact that] you're passing judgment on us without the courtesy of researching WHY we wrote this editorial, when you had only one-sided, slanted and biased information from Mark Andrews, is extremely disappointing. You should know me by now and that I don't just
MAKE things up. This was created by Mark Andrews and ASI, not the Daily Forty-Niner. We merely wrote opinions on the
FACTS !!!! This disrespect pans out in the fact that Andrews wrote his retort in the Union, not in the Daily Forty-Niner.
He's a disrespectful wimp!!!! CSULB leadership should not merely resemble middle school popularity contest politics.
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Hold on. Who said we were in the same boat with Rogers or Stanford or even Stephens anyway? Perhaps poor Duke and the guys must have reached their limit with the lack of courtesy from them and perhaps myself (although it wasn't out of malice) that their rationality/logic has boiled over and headed south for the summer. But then again, I suppose that some people can call me courageous for writing for BOTH papers as a study. And if I was trying to get these facts from these important people, facts that would be critical to the credibility of the organization, I'd be boiling over too.
This just reinforces the animosities and hostilities that have historically fractured relationships between the Daily 49er and the ASI and the Union Weekly. I probably will not want to go deeper into the rift between both of them because I've already graduated, and I have my own issues to take of. As for that mess, I leave it to both parties to sort it out.
But this was some good stuff from Duke. Thanks, old buddy.
Your salty, yet honest rant just got posted on the Bedlam.
