The current Student Government Association debacle reminds me of a children's story from my childhood, "Fox and Grapes." For those of you who never had the good fortune to experience this little tale, it goes like this:
Once upon a time there was a fox strolling through the woods. He came upon a grape orchard. There he found a bunch of beautiful grapes hanging from a high branch.
"Boy those sure would be tasty," he thought to himself.
He backed up, took a running start and jumped. He did not get high enough.
He went back to his starting spot and tried again. He almost got high enough this time, but not quite.
He tried and tried again and again, but just couldn't get high enough to grab the grapes.
Finally, he gave up.
As he walked away, he put his nose in the air and said: "I am sure those grapes are sour."
So while I understand the students disenchantment with having a one-party system, the blame cannot fall on Team Us or SGA. Team Clemens and their sycophants must accept that they did not meet the requirements to run in this election and SGA had no lawful recourse to allow them to do so. There is no doubt that, because of the conflict of interest, the members of Team US should have abstained from the vote determining if Team Clemens could speak. However, their votes did not change the outcome and they did nothing to emasculate the candidacy of any slate. How absurd is it to demonize an organization for following their own rules and then sanctify Team Clemens for trying to break them?
To put this in context, think back to the 2004 presidential election. The Democrats didn't wait until Nov. 5 to field a candidate, they followed the legal procedure of nominating a candidate and then allowing the people to decide. We even allowed candidates on the ballot who ultimately received less than 1 percent of the vote, but they were there because they followed procedure. SGA is no different. Team Clemens could have been on the ballot if they had followed procedure, but they didn't, and no one on their side has given any viable reason why they failed to do so. The argument about a lack of advertising is unacceptable. If they were serious about running they would have known the deadline without having to be reminded. If you need a scapegoat, blame Team Clemens. They didn't meet the deadline and there is no one to blame but themselves for that. Even at the time they wanted to speak to SGA, they did not meet the requirements needed to run, yet somehow expected to be allowed to do so. There are deadlines for almost everything and penalties for failing to meet them. Ultimately, Team Clemens was not prepared for or realistic about their contention. If they were, they would have been punctual in their candidacy. They would have run to serve the students, not to simply oppose Team Us.
My advice for Team Us: You've "won," but be careful with the words you use. It will be difficult to convince many people that you speak for the students because of this ordeal. You have a great opportunity to win the support and respect of the campus now, through meaningful actions rather than promises alone. For Team Clemens, if you're as serious as you claim about running, you've got about 11 months to get your slate registered.
Write to Robb at robb614@aol.com
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