bradley@im4u.UUCP (David K. Bradley) (11/15/85)
While we're looking for discussion topics...
There is currently a movement at the University of Texas at Austin to abolish
the university's student government. Those opposed to student government
claim that the organization doesn't really do anything and is a waste of
money. Two anti-government student organizations, Students Tired of
Manipulative Politics (STOMP) and Committee to Retire Aspiring Politicians
(CRAP), claim they have enough petition signatures to bring the issue to
a referendum election this semester.
This has happened at UT before and at least one other university I know of
(North Texas State). Has this happened at other universities and if so
what was the outcome?
--
David Bradley
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David K. Bradley, UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,harvard,gatech}!ut-sally!im4u!bradley
ARPA Internet and CSNET: bradley@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------rrr@milo.UUCP (Richard Rush) (11/27/85)
> While we're looking for discussion topics... > > There is currently a movement at the University of Texas at Austin to abolish > the university's student government. Those opposed to student government > claim that the organization doesn't really do anything and is a waste of > money. Two anti-government student organizations, Students Tired of > Manipulative Politics (STOMP) and Committee to Retire Aspiring Politicians > (CRAP), claim they have enough petition signatures to bring the issue to > a referendum election this semester. > > This has happened at UT before and at least one other university I know of > (North Texas State). Has this happened at other universities and if so > what was the outcome? > Here at Case Western Reserve Univ. (affectionately known as the "Mistake-on-the- Lake" :-), we have recently (83-84 school year) had our government reorganized. This was forced on us by our scholl administration "for our own good." At the time many of us were quite upset by this sort of maneuvering on our admin's part, but it seems now that they were correct in doing just that. The event that started the whole shebang was a rock concert that our USG attempted to throw. It lost $24,000 in one shot. Personally, I think that the reason that they lost so much money is that they hired a band that no-one wanted to hear (attendance was ~= 600), that also had too big of a name (the band was Atlanta Rhythm Section). Again, however in the light of your article it seems that there was some serious politicking going on also (I was a freshman at the time so I wasn't too aware of this stuff). Anyway, I geuss that waht I'm saying it that perhaps the students at UT are a little more clued in than we were at CWRU back in '82. However I think that it would be unfortunate if the government were simply abolished. Perhaps a new constitution would serve you better. *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
al@mot.UUCP (Al Filipski) (12/02/85)
>
A few years ago, the student government election at some University
was won by a "surrealist" or "anarchist" party or something like that.
The first thing they did was to buy thousands of pink plastic lawn
flamingos and plant them all over campus. Does anyone remember the
name of the University or more detail as to what they did or what
the aftermath was?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Filipski, UNIX group, Motorola Microsystems, Tempe, AZ U.S.A 85282
seismo!ut-sally!oakhill!mot!al, ihnp4!mot!al, ucbvax!arizona!asuvax!mot!al
--------------------------------------------------------------------------gt4395b@gitpyr.UUCP (Christodoulou,Michael Joseph) (12/03/85)
> > A few years ago, the student government election at some University > was won by a "surrealist" or "anarchist" party or something like that. > The first thing they did was to buy thousands of pink plastic lawn > flamingos and plant them all over campus. Does anyone remember the > name of the University or more detail as to what they did or what > the aftermath was? > The college was the University of Wisconsin at Madison. I'm not sure of the entire story, but my old roommate (who now attends that school) sent a postcard with a picture of the administration building lawn covered with pink plastic flamingos. The caption on back read something to the effect that every 97 years, flamingos mysteriously migrate to the University of Wisconsin. As for the aftermath, I believe he (my roommate) said that they just disappeared the following day. -- Mike Christodoulou Georgia Tech
neveu@lll-crg.ARpA (Charles Neveu) (12/03/85)
In article <467@mot.UUCP> al@mot.UUCP (Al Filipski) writes: >> >A few years ago, the student government election at some University >was won by a "surrealist" or "anarchist" party or something like that. >The first thing they did was to buy thousands of pink plastic lawn >flamingos and plant them all over campus. Does anyone remember the >name of the University or more detail as to what they did or what >the aftermath was? The University was Wisconsin, the party was called Pail&Shovel (after a campaign promise that they would take the student government budget of $80,000, convert it to pennies, dump it on library mall and let the students go after it with pails and shovels), the perpetrators were Jim Mallon, President-For-Life and Leon Varjian, Vice-President-For-Life. They were elected because people had become rather cynical about student government for all the reasons so far discussed on this newsgroup, and because they were genuinely funny, creative, and they were powerful campaigners. The flamingos story is true, but it wasn't the first thing they did. Before that there were Toga parties, the famous Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota, changing the name of the school to University of New Jersey, etc. Charles Neveu Wisconsin '83
andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers) (12/04/85)
In article <1095@lll-crg.ARpA> neveu@lll-crg.UUCP (Charles neveu) writes: >>A few years ago, the student government election at some University >>was won by a "surrealist" or "anarchist" party or something like that... > >The University was Wisconsin, the party was called Pail&Shovel... > [discussion of krazy kampus kapers omitted] Hey, these guys sound great! Tell us more! AWR P.S.: Sometime in the late 70's, Union College (NY) students elected Jerry Garcia as student body president on a write-in campaign! (Sorry, Bob Weir wasn't Vice-President.) The administration overruled the vote, though, since good ol' Captain Trips was "not a registered student". AWR '74
lkk@teddy.UUCP (12/04/85)
On the subject of rediculous student government:
A few years ago the MIT undergraduate student body elected the
"Conservative Gumby" ticket to the positions of Undergraduate
Association President and Vice President.
They ran on a platform which included making Harvard a colony of MIT.
They ran against a number of serious candidates, but still won.
Once elected, they used the UA news to give "war stories" about the
status of the Harvard invasion (this was at the same time that Argentina
invaded falklands).
Since that time, there haven't been many serious candiates for those
offices, and almost everyone ignores the student govt.
--
Sport Death, (USENET) ...{decvax | ihnp4!mit-eddie}!genrad!panda!lkk
Larry Kolodney (INTERNET) lkk@mit-mc.arpa
--------
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
- Helen Kellerneveu@lll-crg.ARpA (Charles Neveu) (12/05/85)
In article <719@grkermi.UUCP> andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers) writes: >>>A few years ago, the student government election at some University >>>was won by a "surrealist" or "anarchist" party or something like that... >> >>The University was Wisconsin, the party was called Pail&Shovel... >> [discussion of krazy kampus kapers omitted] > >Hey, these guys sound great! Tell us more! Well, it's a weird and twisted saga, but here are a few anecdotes. One of their campaign promises was to bring the Statue of Liberty to the University. That February, on the frozen Lake Mendota, they built the top of the head (bridge of the nose and up) of Lady Liberty and her torch arm. They claimed that they had stolen her during they night, but the helicopter cable broke and she plunged through the ice. The head and arm were designed by the man who used to do the sets for the N.Y. Metropolitan Opera (this may be apocryphal). They looked very nice. The torch even lit. Last I heard (from P.F.L. Jim Mallon's sister) was that Mallon was producing commercials in Minneapolis. Leon Varjian, self-proclaimed professional student ("I've been in college for twelve years, I'm taking one credit and I never attend. I'm the perfect student.") has a Master's degree in math and is/was a computer programmer. Every year in Madison on April 1st he leads the Boom-Box Parade, in which a couple hundred people march in band uniforms, carrying boom-boxes tuned to one of several different radio stations, each broadcasting a different John Phillips Sousa march. They did lots of other things, too. There was the world's largest toga party, the world's largest milkshake, the flamingos ("got'em dirt cheap from a truck hijacker"), the Halloween party... Charles