Western Oregon Journal

Surprisingly, I was asked to continue my column after being recalled. Not surprisingly, however, my column didn't have a lot of readers, as I was the stuffy and politically safe ASWOU President. Not anymore. Now I am going to be more like the me I was proud of before-the person who was afraid of no one or nothing, the person who stood up for himself and his students. That is how I will write this column, especially because I have only about two more issues.

I started my life in ASWOU the second month of my first year at Western, and I have been involved ever since. I have held four positions on the joint cabinet. I have served on no less than 30 committees. I have been forced to change my major five times to suit my level of involvement. I have taught at least 50 classes on involvement, in Oregon and nationally. I have had my life threatened at least five times. I have had my dog's life threatened once, actually recently. I have ruined at least four possibly-serious relationships and largely neglected my family. I love students, and that is why I was your President, not for the paycheck or to add shine to my resume.

See, there is a fundamental difference between me and the new ASWOU leadership, who are now "representing" you because of my recall. I won my election and was chosen to serve the students. Justin Tomlin and Carl Fischer (and until Carl returns, Jon Volder) were not. In fact, Justin Tomlin is now the first Student-Body President who actually lost an election! Your new unelected President lost his campaign for President last year and I appointed him to the Senate, and with insider information, he became the Pro-Tem, then the President. Carl Fischer has lost every campaign he has run and only been successful in getting a senate seat, which, coincidentally, is not a feat as half our senate only received TWO WRITE-ON VOTES!

Aside from being the only Student-Body President to be recalled in the State of Oregon, there is nothing extraordinary about my recall-in political terms. It may surprise some of my readers that there were two jobs that were created due to my recall and one that got a second wind. Justin Tomlin and Carl Fischer will receive larger pay checks because of my recall. Both individuals helped with the recall election, and Carl Fischer even actively helped get students to sign the petition-conflict of interest, you ask? And the job that will get a new wind? That is our very own, Vice President of screwing Students Affairs, the ASWOU Adviser. He was completely circumvented in all aspects of ASWOU, while I was President, because his biased advising was a hindrance to everything that ASWOU stood for. But, fortunately for him, I was recalled, and now he can go back to screwing students in the shadows under the sad guise of being ASWOU's Adviser.

With elections around the corner, please, please make an educated decision. You may think that your vote does not count, but it does. Whoever you elect for President, Senate President and Judicial Administrator will have a HUGE impact on your everyday life. And by that, I mean, helping keep tuition low, financial aid high, our administrators a safe distance from students, etc. Go vote, but be cautious; there are a lot of power-hungry, anti-student leaders running. Be sure that you are not fooled by their ambitions!

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