Where do we move from the knowledge of the existence of something like “Fight Club”? That is, from the alleged assistance certain ASUO candidates have received from some in the Oregon Student Association. As the initial story noted, this is something joked about by those on the periphery of the ASUO for ages.
Dubya still had a year and a half in office when the first mention @@http://tinyurl.com/7yayuwl@@of such a thing emerged from the ether. And after the initial comment storm, there the information sat, growing stale and purposeless. Though the information it contained held great importance to the institution, it didn’t make a strong enough case, and so it returned to joke status.
If you’ve read the story, the quotes speak for themselves. If nothing else, we know that students throughout the last five years have seen inappropriate levels of assistance going to certain candidates over others. For a contracted service of the government they are accused of influencing, this is unacceptable.
Unequivocally.
So, where do we move from the knowledge of the existence of something called “Fight Club”? We shine more light on it. Even if you have no interest in the day-to-day activity of the student government — which we don’t blame you for — this does affect you, because it affects all of us.
Unequivocally.
“Superior knowledge and resources create almost insurmountable barriers that the everyday student who wants to run for office won’t be able to overcome,” former ASUO Sen. Sara Hamilton@@http://tinyurl.com/85v9eq9@@ told the Emerald.
Let us start moving from here by denouncing a form of Fight Club that has been reported. It has been denounced while in the dark, but in whispers. @@hot@@If we are to get beyond the divisiveness of the past, we should not allow for this to be considered acceptable.
“When I was an intern and was selected to run on a slate that outside organizations supported, I was asked to meet in the basement of a bank on a Saturday morning,” Hamilton said.
But knowing about it (by itself) is not enough. That’s clear from the years that our student government has not mentioned its existence. It’s time for a student government that takes seriously its commitment to be open to the student body and to be transparent about its associations.
And, as the initial story dissected, we do not condemn the Oregon Student Association. Far from it: It has, over the years, allowed van space for countless students to lobby in Salem and given them the opportunity to participate in ways they wouldn’t have without it. Instead (and for the purpose of defending these honorable intentions), we admonish those who would use the groups resources to create a thing such as Fight Club.
University alumnus Chuck Palahniuk’s “Fight Club”@@http://chuckpalahniuk.net/@@ and its popular movie adaptation of the same name had two rules that everyone knows about: You do not talk about Fight Club.
The problem is, student government can’t have that rule.