Honesty is a very ambiguous term. Sure, the dictionary might tell you otherwise with its impersonal, black and white explanation of the word. But in practical terms, honesty is much harder to describe.
A terribly impressive example of the ambiguity and gray areas came up this week in Student Government Association. In case you were unfortunate and caught the flu that's canvassing campus and haven't heard: Monday's Nomination Convention ran into some snags.
On Monday, the Elections Board said it couldn't accept the one slate that applied because of an issue with the elections packet. The board said the packet was missing addresses for some of the 400 signatures needed, and some of the signatures had "similar" handwriting styles. As a result, the convention has been moved to Thursday.
On Tuesday, the slate that applied, headed up by presidential hopeful Beth Cahill, said in a Daily News article that "to our knowledge all the signatures were genuine." Cahill also said people have their own take on what caused the roadblock to nomination, and those people "rarely see both sides of the story."
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Daily News hadn't reported any new updates on the SGA nomination debacle. For this discussion on truth and honesty, it's appropriate to isolate a specific time period. The time period we're working with starts Monday and ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Everything that has happened since then is irrelevant because the slate already proved it wasn't worth a vote by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The situation is simple on the surface. It looks like either the Elections Board isn't telling the whole story or Beth Cahill and her slate aren't being forthright with information. One or the other, it seems, is not being honest.
Remember that definition of honesty we discussed earlier? Let's see what the black and white actually says. According to Merriam-Webster, honesty is "fairness and straightforwardness of conduct," and it is also defined as the "adherence to the facts."
Let's break it down with the latter part of the definition first. In the SGA situation, Cahill's slate isn't adhering to the facts determined by a higher authority. According to the Elections Board, it's a fact that addresses were missing and some of the signatures appeared similar. The Cahill slate's version of the facts is ambiguous at best. It relies on the words "to our knowledge" that preface a claim that the signatures are genuine.
This "to our knowledge" business opens up a whole slew of problems for people trying to figure out the situation. It's anyone's best guess what the slate really knows and how that's pertinent to the situation. Does this mean the slate has some knowledge the Elections Board doesn't? Does it mean the Elections Board has a bit of information it neglected to share with the slate? These are only two of millions of possibilities when vague terms like "to our knowledge" are used before statements.
This brings us to the first part of the definition of honesty. The Cahill slate's actions are the exact opposite of fairness and straightforwardness. It's not fair to mislead students about what happened with ambiguous statements. It's not straightforward to give canned, prepared statements along the lines of "We're disappointed but looking forward."
Whether the slate is being honest is debatable. I'm sure it is disappointed and looking forward. I'm sure that the slate thought the elections packet was good enough to pass muster. If they thought they didn't have a complete packet they probably wouldn't have turned one in. Despite that previous honesty, the lack of an honest assessment of the situation from the slate should be a red flag.
If it were just a matter of collecting signatures in an appropriate manner the slate would have more ground to stand on. Add in a vague and dodgy response to allegations that amount to forgery and the situation is altogether different. I don't want a slate that dodges issues and problems and neither should you.
Regardless of what happens now, the Cahill slate has already proved it is willing to weave, dodge and dance around what's happening or has happened. Those skills might help in some SGA closed-door negotiations, but it's totally unacceptable to treat the students the slate wants to represent that way.
I don't think the slate deserves any votes and I hope a better slate shows up to run at Thursday's nomination convention. Honestly.
Write to Logan at lmbraman@bsu.edu
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
