TECHNICIAN’S VIEW — Last fall, on Monday and Tuesday during the first week after Thanksgiving Break (intellectuals refer to this as ‘Dead Week’) there was a horribly publicized referendum for students to vote on.
Obviously, no one really cared.
Or maybe no one really knew about it.
Or maybe even the people who did vote were not informed when they did so.
None of these are outside of the realm of possibility since it did involve Student Government. The voter turnout for that referendum makes a Duke football game look like a Super Bowl turnout.
But the students that did vote opted to turn down the referendum, which goes against everything that Forrest Hinton and his band of senators, along with those in the executive branch, and even Paul Cousins and his regime in the Office of Student Conduct all wanted. The administration stepped in and basically told everyone to wait before anything was decided about the future home of the judicial board.
Why in the world would the administration do this? By administration we mean Chancellor Oblinger and Vice Chancellor Tom Stafford.
The administration almost NEVER steps in between the Student Senate and its recommendations.
On a side note, for all those unaware of the authoritative totem pole at this university, the Student Senate is pretty low and do not have autonomous control – everything they pass has to be verified by an administrator before implication and, for the most part, must be carried out by another campus entity.
So the administration steps in – but not because this affects students. If any student has to face the wrath of a “referral to the University” they will see absolutely nothing different when their day of judgment comes.
They will see the same students and will still see Paul Cousins no matter where the J-Board’s home is.
But, to the outside world, if the J-Board is under Paul Cousins, aka the administration, then it would certainly appear as though the administration is trying students rather than members of Student Government trying students – which would, in turn, give students another reason to scream “unfair.”
So naturally, administrators would want to interfere.
But the interference is necessary. The access to information during the vote is certainly questionable and the placement of the judicial branch in the framework of a government-like body, along with long-term plans are all things that administrators need to think about.
Because most of them will still be here after we leave.