The political machine is no stranger to cronyism and neither, it seems, is the University student government.
ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz says his decision to appoint former Senate President Athan Papailiou to the seat vacated by Kate Jones is necessary in order to keep an experienced voice in the Senate. However, throughout Dotters-Katz’s campaign for president, he and running mate Johnny Delashaw continuously touted the pitfalls of over-association with the ASUO and ran on a platform of involving “everyday students” in student government.
Not only is Papailiou not one of these “everyday students,” but it would be difficult to find someone on campus more associated with the ASUO than he is. Papailiou was appointed to the Senate in 2006 by then-ASUO president Adam Walsh, was later elected to the seat and went on to serve for two more years, the second as Senate president. He was also former Senate President Sara Hamilton’s vice presidential running mate for the 2007-08 ASUO Executive. This hardly seems like someone who is removed from the inner workings of campus government.
In an interview with the Emerald in April 2008, before his election to ASUO Executive, Dotters-Katz argued that those who have been inside ASUO for a significant amount of time get caught up in special interests and “become part of some political machine and can no longer effectively do their job as student advocate.” Apparently some people are immune to this effect, as Dotters-Katz said Sunday that his previous words don’t apply to everyone, but instead were meant to single out former ASUO President Emily McLain and her staff.
We smell a rat.
During Dotters-Katz and Delashaw’s campaign, the year after Papailiou and Hamilton lost the bid for ASUO Executive, Papailiou referred to himself and Hamilton as “campaign co-directors” for the running mates. Just before his most recent appointment to Senate, Papailiou said he frequently advises the current administration. Dotters-Katz also described Papailiou as the “chief architect” of the Constitution amendment proposals he recently submitted targeting the ASUO Constitution Court and Elections Board, and the grievance process. The amendments are intended to solve problems that diminish the ASUO’s reputation in the eyes of students, according to its authors. Less than a month after the amendments were submitted, Dotters-Katz ostensibly ignored one of his primary campaign platforms and appointed Papailiou. Was there any consideration put into how this decision would affect ASUO’s reputation?
Not only has Papailiou been closely involved with the ASUO for years, he is also one of the president’s closest confidants. Whatever the motives behind Dotters-Katz’s decision, Papailiou’s appointment seems disingenuous.
“If the student body knew about the practices and ethics of the ASUO, they would be up in arms,” Dotters-Katz said before his election last year. “The ASUO has become a culture of corruption.” It may be overstating the matter to call this most recent appointment an act of corruption, but it begs the questions: What happened to the “everyday student”? Was Papailiou simply the only one interested in the Senate seat?
The ASUO Executive has said it wants to make its administration about policies and not politics. Is hypocrisy really the best policy?
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Representing ‘everyday students’?
Daily Emerald
January 12, 2009
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