Show - raasusHBuimw and the relinquishment Apathy Gilbert Archuleta by opinion editor The 1992 election proved to be the election year to make history books interesting The incumbent lost to a young and suave Arkansas democrat who premised to fix the deficit and make America the place it was meant to be Let us not forget Ross Perot however the loud big eared independent Texan who dropped in and out of the race as the election wore on Yes the 1992 election was a circus one that will be remembered for quite sometime In spite of all of the and false promises 1992 was a good year in toms of In fact it was one of the highest turnouts ever Now whether it was the voter turnout mud-slingi- ng increased number of women and minority candidates or the comedy of the three major presidential candidates one cannot determine but it was a year in which the populous took charge so to speak With that in mind let us examine the ASCEU student elections this year There were two parties for president two candidates for activities and the candidates for ICC chair and academic were unopposed Considering the imbalance of power in years past with only three executive officers to oversee ASCEU with no other body to keep that authority in check it is a wonder that more students did not take an active part in the election Throughout the year several different organizations on campus have cried injustice and tyranny at the "authority given to ASCEU yet not one of those organizations sponsored n a candidate in this year's election One group in particular launched a the constitutional revisions that were their against campaign did not proposed although end in success Iam wondering if their wails were nothing more than die little boy who vice-preside- vice-presid- nt ent counter-campaig- cried wolf The student governments of CEU are notorious for their ineffectiveness and lack of concern for the student body There may be some truth to this but my question is why aren't those complaining taking an active part in changing it? This year two more executive positions were opened in an attempt to add the "checks and balances" to ASCEU and yet two of those five positions are being given away The apathetic attitude of CEU is disgusting The constant complaints are equivalent to the young child who doesn't want to go to bed at bed time The past century of this country has been a persistent shove towards change and a move towards the philosophical Kid Waco The Sam Pittman by guest editorialist : - i—m—bita of power: The 1993 student election administrations we have "" taken interpretation of true democracy and under the past two stn backwards We as a nation have continually relinquished mass power to the elite few Unfortunately CEU has followed suit In a comparison to last year the enthusiasm of this year’s student election is a mere puff of smoke as opposed to the blaze of glory it was last year The candidates of the 1993 election were not forced into creativity or effort which is a sad projection for next year The total number of students that attend CEU is approximately 1700 and out that apis proximately 300 (or under) actually cast a ballot The result the infamous ASCEU is elected with less than about 10 percent of the entire student body This in turn leads to the perception that the student government consists of nothing but power hungry tyrants out for control Ideally I would be opposed to this but at this point in time I say if you let them have the kind of power they want then it is no longer their fault but yours We have let ourselves as a society fall into the victim mind scL This mind set allows us to never lake blame for any of the upsets that occur in our lives It is easier to place the blame on someone else than having to deal with it on a personal level But how are thing ever going to get better unless you make and effort to make them better? The apathy of CEU is upsetting and hopefully does not display the attitude of your everyday life For those of you who took the time to vote I hope you are rewarded and for those who didn't and continue to complain-sh- ut up if you're unwilling to take an active part in the change We cannot lose the advancements that we have made in the past century to laziness and lack of spirit This country and CEU are for you and in America you have the right and obligation to decide who controls what in terms of a government and if you give up that right who knows what rights you'll give up next Emily Sailers of the Indigo Girls best sums it up in her song Let It Be Me: history fails rosereolored glass begins to age and crack While the politicians shadowbox the power ring in an endless split decision never solve anything From a neighbor's distant land I heard the strain of a common man let it be me The world seems spent and the president has no good idea who the masses are Well I'm orreof them and Tm among friends I've seen kingdoms blown to ashes in the winds of change but the poWcr Of truth is the fuel for the flame So the darker the ages get there's a monger beacon yeti let it be me" Exercise your rights before there are no rights to exercise felon criminal or terrorist? Much criticism has been directed at die Depart-mem of Alcohol Thbacco and Firearms handling of attempted (read bungled) arrest of the Waco Kid (aka David Koresh) Most rtf this criticism is fair though the ATF would have you believe otherwise Several questions come to mind First what actions on the part of Ko- resh and his followers justify the amount of force used to make the arrest attempt Has David Koresh been convicted of a felony? A violent crime? Is he a known terrorist? NO He is the leader rtf a cull and since the days of Charlie Manson we have had a rabid fear of cults Though it is pure conjecture on my part it would not surprise me to learn that local officials had been wait- ing for years for a pretext on which to rid themselves of the Branch Davidians Assault rifles cannot be the central issue plenty of Idaho Aryans have compounds and assault rifles and I have yet to see them raided The difference is many of the political powers that be in those regions are Nco-or sympathize with die Aryan crusade Waco however is in a more conservative bible community and a Christian cult would be a burr under their sad- die Being Armcgeddonists I believe that the auto-matic weapons were being stockpiled for purposes of post holocaust defense Tire assault rifles (alleged or cortfirmcd) provided with the justification they needed to bring in the Feds The ATF would have received a large por- lion of their information from local officials the officials who had been trying to devise a way to rid their community of those who did not conform to their status quo In order to convince the ATF that intervention was indeed warranted they logically made the people in- - i side the compound look as threatening as possible The exaggerated reports of the dangerous people in side the compound accomplished two things Provid-th- e mg probable cause for the raid and making the officers involved so nervous that a pin drop would have pre- cipitaled a shootout As a result I have no doubt in my mind that the ATF officers opened fire I also have no doubt that these nenrous hair triggered agents could easily have shot their own We saw on the news one reporter who claimed the Davidians opened fire but he could not have been in the position to observe that first hand It is under- standable for him to say this considering he was sur- rounded by officers of the ATF The way those guys were behaving saying the ATF fired first would be akin to career suicide So we enter Phase Two of the Texas ATF mas- saerc the standoff The negotiators claim Koresh will not negotiate because he speaks in scripture not law If the negotiators would pull their heads out they would certainly realize that he must be convinced ing scripturc(aka God's law) instead of trying to nego- tiate on their ground(aka man's law) If the man has rejected the laws of society what makes them think that any argument based in these laws would force New student ffovommonf-WHOCARE- S? bjr Trlstjr Atwood opinion writer Last week was the close of the 9394 student body elections Voter turnout showed that few students really care about the results What were the results of the elections? I don't care What will the actual effect will these new officers have on student life? They will probribly do no more than this year's officials ASCEU has done nothing significant to help the common student They disregard their accountability to the students Until student government comes to us for support we should return their apathetic attitude Elected student officials are not held accountable like the other students Any other student on scholarship is required to take a certain number of credit hours however this is not the case with ASCEU officials This year's ASCEU president Mark Justice finished less than IS hours of credit per quarter Fall arid Winter Furthermore he still is eligible to be the president with this lack of participation on the campus According to Brad King there is nothing in the CEU constitution that requires an officer to be enrolled in any number of hours (question the establishment when this is allowed to happen It seems hypocritical that they are considered above the students and not representatives of the students Next yean elected officials thus far are no more accountable than the last The elected student government officials get paid $250 a quarter they arc not accountable to us I like many others students didn't vote I don't feel my vote can make any difference It may influence the election but it wouldn't matter which of the candidates filled the position During the elections him to surrender last week did anyone hear any strong differences on issues? The candiSo enter Phase three I have labeled the Singerdate platforms in which they were running were virtually nonexistent ls music loud Student government has little if any power beyond student activities over maneuver Swapp Flaying The president represents us on the Board of Trustees with one vote but speakers to wear them down The result of this is form otherwise student government has little real power These officials Lack causes a of follow of to temposleep easy Natu-samc control some money but it really makes no difference who is distributrary insanity in humans A form of delirium noise the and wear when the ing iL loudspeakers finally rally this Davidians down to state they are going to act as Student government has no say about most of the students' concerns course ASCEU human would other doesn't help with student housing problems meal plan conOf irrationally any any law is tell cern's when this happens enforcement going to or class problems Students that need help in these areas should (continued on page 8) on 8) (continued page us-Na- zis loud-loca- |