In a recent column I stated that one way to improve Student Government would be to dissolve the Student Activity Fund and Allocation Committee (SAFAC) and have its authority absorbed by the SG Senate. I made this statement based on my observation that schools where Student Government plays a major role in the life of students, SG has the sole authority to allocate funds to student organizations. SAFAC is tasked with the job of allocating money to student organizations that apply for extra funds to implement their programs. Due to the amount of money available annually -approximately $500,000-SAFAC has to weigh a number of criteria carefully when determining how much money to hand out. For the purpose of clarification, I did not make the comment about dissolving SAFAC because I was in any way implying that the members of SAFAC don’t do their jobs properly. They in fact do an exemplary job, an often thankless and misunderstood one.

Getting back to the question at hand, my answer is-no. If UM was much larger and had more money, then it might be appropriate for SAFAC to be dissolved. But not now and not here. Why? Because the primary purpose of SG, namely the promotion of programming events and the initiation and administration of special projects, would be ultimately overshadowed were the Senate to take on the additional responsibility of allocating funds to student organizations. With only one primary focus, the students are better served if programming and financing are kept separate, a dynamic the current system preserves.

What would make SG better is if all of you paid more attention to it. It’s gotten so bad that the Elections Commission decided to cancel the presidential and vice-presidential debates this year. I must say, having been a candidate for president last year, it was very arduous indeed to sit through all 105 minutes of the debate last year, especially since only the supporters of candidates go and the most intelligent question asked was about which celebrity we’d each bring to campus. As if anybody gives a crap which celebrity the SG president would bring to campus! My answer was Rush Limbaugh. You all deserve to be forced to listen to all of his three-hour show.

I wish the Elections Commission would have been able to find a way to make the debates better, but I don’t blame them for not wasting their time. Like the audience is even worth their trouble.

Scott Wacholtz can be contacted at s.wacholtz@miami.edu.

I am tired of hearing people write about how affirmative action is an unfair endeavor maintained to accept unqualified black people while leaving white people out in the cold, leading to “reverse discrimination.” This argument would be valid if we lived in an equal society. President Johnson wanted hiring practices to be free of racial bias, but in 2003 the National Bureau of Economic Research found that white sounding names are 50 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than black ones. In that same year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission resolved almost 31,000 charges of race discrimination.

Blacks pay more for car loans and home mortgages-if they can obtain them-receive inadequate healthcare, housing, education and possess less wealth than whites. With regards to education black student are more likely to attend a majority black school because of white flight to suburban areas and subsequent enrollment in private schools.

At the same time there is a disparity between the two groups with regards to the state of race relations. The results of a 2002 University of Dayton study showed that whites believed that minorities are routinely discriminated against (79 percent) but do not believe discrimination is a problem where they live (24.8 percent) and where they work or attend school (14 percent). This leads me to the argument from people who feel that they are discriminated against when it comes to higher education. Some think that affirmative action gives people a free ride to college while ignoring legacy and athletic admissions, and the fact that poor people, regardless of race, are squeezed out of higher education because of the shift to more “merit” based aid to those who will attend college in the first place. The federal government is not much of a help as its subsidy plan is two decades out of date.

Blacks still find it hard to break away from Jim Crow laws of the South. West Virginia still has a few. Some believe the government’s War on Drugs is a new version of Jim Crow because of the crackdowns in inner city neighborhoods. The majority of those that use crack are white while the arrests are disproportionately black, though with powder cocaine more whites are arrested. Powder cocaine carries shorter sentences than crack. Connect this to the last two elections where former, mainly left leaning, black felons were not allowed to vote while others had their rights restored.

Do not tell me that this is a fair and just nation because I know that it is not. Many choose issues that involve them directly and take that individual issue out of context. Just because it is not socially acceptable for someone to hurl racial slurs in my direction does not mean this nation is that far from its tragic past. Affirmative action is used to right obvious wrongs. To those of you who quote Dr. King’s speech for your purpose I would like to tell you this: It has barely started.

Vontilla Steven can be contacted at v.steven@umiami.edu.

If Donald Trump was CEO of UM SG Senate, Inc. his message to most of the employees would probably be, “You’re fired!” Too bad he isn’t; he and I would have a good deal of agreement on that issue. As it stands, the Student Government Senate is a monument of bureaucracy and inefficiency. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great senators doing constructive things, but the simple truth is the number of seats and where they are coming from is hampering their overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Currently there are Senators representing nearly every school, residential college and major student organization on campus. Everyone who has a unique demographic, no matter how obscure, thinks they are entitled to a Senate seat. Please tell me why it’s so imperative that the Sports & Recreational Interest Club Federation has its own senate seat?

A lot of the “unique demographic” constituencies are double represented. FEC and SpectrUM each have their own Senate seat. Am I to believe that no Cubans live in Hecht Residential College? There must be a few GBLT students in the School of Business. Why isn’t it good enough that those students be represented by the Senators elected from the more broad constituencies?

With unpaid SG positions like Senate, many people have a natural tendency towards “more is better.” What they are failing to realize is that the opposite is true-less is more.

The most obvious and problematic issue with the Senate is that the supply is near-even with the demand. Because there are so many seats a student can run for, the number of people choosing to run gets so spread out that often times seats go uncontested or with little opposition. This allows for dead weight and underachieving senators to slip through the cracks. If you had fewer seats available, there would be much greater competition for each seat. Greater competition would lead to higher accountability for existing Senators, and you would quickly see the fat being trimmed out of the Senate and a higher level of productivity from the remaining Senators. The miscellaneous groups left out in the dust could turn themselves to a more appropriate and efficient role in the Student Government process-effective lobbying for their causes.

In the case of the SG Senate, the old criticism the Japanese levy against American business applies: “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.”

Don Donelson can be contacted at d.donelson@umiami.edu.

Re: “To the new Rock 93.1: You’re my hero!”, 2/22

Shameful what some will do for a story!

As a UM alum and Miami native I feel it’s my obligation to make sure you understand that there is only one radio station worth listening to in South Florida.

The Voice, WVUM.

For a Hurricane writer to go out on the prowl for other-than-mainstream listening and fail to mention The Voice is incomprehensible.

For years WVUM operated at 365 watts (the old saying was 1 rock-solid watt for every day of the year). It was and still is a collection of oddball volunteer DJs, playing music that you simply wouldn’t hear anywhere else.

Isn’t that what you want from radio-a surprise?

If you want your daily dose of the pre-chewed ’90s, and you’re happy with robots program directors and screaming car lot commercials…that’s cool too. I’ve seen modern rock slide all the way down the dial. When 93 Rock hits the skids Miami’s only rock choice may be The Voice, 90.5 FM! Somewhere between NPR and the Bible thumpers, WVUM is looking forward and has been kicking out real rock with real rock-n-roll DJs for decades. Certainly worth a mention anytime you write about radio.

Don’t get me started,

Dan Hardie

Alum

PS: ‘Canes often overlook the great things campus has to offer. WVUM has always got the cold shoulder from the pop-happy masses, but the Lowe Art Museum and Ring Theater, the Beaumont Cinema and the incredible libraries-not to mention the exquisite campus itself deserve more attention & appreciation.

PPS: If I sound like an old fart, it’s because I am. So old in fact that I can refer to the Cosford Cinema as the Beaumont and never miss a beat. That’s old Minkus. Now listen to The Voice and go write an article about that gem, you hippie.

What a difference a year makes. When Pete Maki ran for Student Government last year, his “things that go bump in the night” ticket seemed too lighthearted and disorganized to be taken seriously. He has certainly made the turnaround to become a respectable candidate this election-and he has earned our endorsement for Student Government president.

In the past year, Maki has gained valuable SG Senate experience and has blossomed into a charismatic leader. While his experience may not compare to some other student leaders, he is approachable and practical, two very important characteristics in an SG president.

Maki’s platform is based on a foundation of practicality. Sometimes candidates unreasonably think that they can make changes like installing Jumbotrons in the UC or lowering tuition. Maki’s platform is made up of small, simple changes, and while even he admitted that he wasn’t “changing Social Security,” his plan is appealing and well rounded.

Maki has also done his research, an area in which his opponent, Pamela Schiess, is somewhat lacking. In his proposal to extend the shuttle service to the Key Biscayne beach, Maki knows how much it would cost per hour; in his proposal to extend study hours, he knows that keeping the library open would be unrealistic because they’d have to pay a certified librarian for those hours. This research extends beyond merely citing the people to contact for each project; Maki refers to other schools’ programs and issues that affect them. Taking this initiative shows a serious commitment to thinking beyond the obvious by looking both inside and outside of UM to accomplish his goals.

Maki’s idea to create a shuttle service to the beach reflects the wishes of the student body and, if feasible, should prove to be a community-building program. It is also in line with President Shalala’s goal of uniting the campus community.

Maki may be just the person to reach out to the uninvolved students and make them feel connected to the University. He wants to go around campus the first few weeks of school introducing himself to students. When we asked him why we should vote for him he may have joked about being a likable guy, but that’s incredibly important in a president. Students are going to vote for someone that they feel most represents them and their interests, someone who they can come to with ideas and concerns throughout the year.

On the other hand, Schiess speaks in very abstract and vague terms, often referring to her “vision of excellence” to move the University forward. While this sounds good, it’s more important to hear about her interests in what the students want, not what the University wants-because they can be two very different things.

Schiess considers her track record her main strength, which we find to be a problem. Anyone can boast about a lengthy r