Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihu1n.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!ihu1n!johnnyr From: johnnyr@ihu1n.UUCP (John R. Rosenberg) Newsgroups: net.college,net.politics Subject: Re: E.g. Student Gov't Project. Message-ID: <328@ihu1n.UUCP> Date: Fri, 14-Feb-86 09:22:35 EST Article-I.D.: ihu1n.328 Posted: Fri Feb 14 09:22:35 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 15-Feb-86 04:31:02 EST References: <705@ihlpm.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 68 Xref: watmath net.college:1058 net.politics:13428 > > I think once again the MSA (Michigan Student Assembly) is getting out of > > line. Someone please cut off their allowance!!!!!!!! > > > > Just because a handful of students don't like an organization doesn't mean > > they should bar that organization from campus. > > ... > > This is too long already, so I'll stop. After I note that as a member > > of the alumi association, I'll be trying to get the U to stop wasting > > students' precious cash on the MSA. > > -- > > Lori Frear > > ihnp4!ihnp3!frear > > > > GO BLUE!!!!!!! > > (or don't bother going at all) > I agree 100 percent with Lori's posting. What ever happened > to freedom of choice! > > I believe a person going to college is capable of making a decision > about where they want to work after college. Does the MSA believe > everyone at U of M feels the same way about the CIA? > > Laurie Donahue > Another Michigan Alumni As yet another U of M alumnus, I'll add my two cents. The Michigan Student Assembly thinks that they represent and lead the opinions of an overwhelming majority of students on the Ann Arbor campus. Well, it just isn't so. It is rare that MSA elections draw more than 10 percent of the student body out to vote. So assuming that a victorious candidate wins with 51% of the total vote, what it really means is that only 5% of some 40,000 students elected this person. Note exactly the popular mandate that MSA would have everyone believe. You could say that a 10% voter turnout reflects student apathy. Well, in a way it does, but the real root of the problem is that most are disgusted with the self-righteous overbearing self-importance that the MSA embodies. Nobody cares. Period. So to bring this back around to the original point... So what if MSA brought pressure to bear and caused the CIA to officially leave campus. The pressure is empty, the MSA doesn't represent the will of the people. If people feel strongly about a CIA presence on campus, the number of interviewees will be accordingly small. If people don't care, then the number will be average. If people approve, they will be swamped with people who want to work for the CIA. The same thing happens already with the so-called 'kill-ratio' companies (those in the defense industry). I know quite a few people who would not interview with recruiters from McDonald Douglas or Northrop etc because of the possibility of working on a defense-related project that would go against their personal convictions. No problem. There are some people who want to work in those areas. The MSA seems to have a problem with that. People elected by 5% of the student body want to restrict the rights of all of the student body by saying who should and should not be allowed on campus to interview. Sounds questionable to me...at best. At worst, smacks a little of dictatorship. And from an 'elected' 'government' too. My My My. As Lori Frear says... Go Blue (or don't bother going at all) John Rosenberg AT&T-NS ihnp4!ih1un!johnnyr