“I want to move forward. I’m here to move forward with this campus. I was elected to get us there, and I will do anything it takes to get us there.”
Those were the words of Student Government President Cassie Alsfeld, in defense of her vote on the LSU Board of Supervisors to approve the Student Union fee increase originally shot down by the students this past semester. Apparently, “doing anything” involves ignoring the student body’s wishes and pushing on with one’s own agenda. I voted in favor of the Union Theater Referendum put in front of the students, and when it was defeated by 50.99 percent of the student body, I sighed but eventually accepted the will of the students. To vote in a board room unanimously against the vote of the student body, regardless of how close the vote was, is unjust and unfair. The Board essentially turned our vote into a poll.
Madame Alsfeld has expressed her dissent with The Daily Reveille’s coverage of SG during the course of this semester, saying in a Letter to the Editor on Sept. 27, “the presentation and choice of stories have displayed an obvious slant within management.” Her actions as president this semester, however, have displayed a much steeper slant.
“Doing anything” also involves donating “get out of tuition free” cards to members of her own administration. Not that SG Vice President Josh King or SG Executive Advisor Micah Davies do not deserve the LSU Board of Supervisors’ tuition waivers. It just shows a minor, yet lingering, lack of judgment. In her same letter, she defended her selection of King and Davies as recipients by stating, “If they don’t deserve the scholarship, I don’t know who does.” Alsfeld allegedly consulted with the eight campuses within the LSU System and contacted every SG president, but she couldn’t find anyone worthier of a tuition waiver than the two people closest to her in her administration. From this conundrum, it doesn’t seem like Madame Alsfeld actually looked for anyone else.
I don’t want to take away from the work that SG does, which is … umm … the project … that thing …
I’m not trying to belittle the work of SG members. They do work without pay, under constant scrutiny and with little approval from the student body. But when stories of tuition waivers and denied/reapproved fee increases that the students are ultimately responsible for overshadow the work SG accomplishes, it casts our elected representatives into an extremely negative light. The awarding of tuition waivers to two members of her Executive Staff is not against the rules. Merely, it looks bad and reeks of preferential treatment. No one is accusing Alsfeld of breaking the rules. If they were, this column would serve as a call of impeachment. But it looks terrible when benefits of free tuition are bestowed upon members of SG and not the students themselves, even when our fees are increased after we rejected the measure to do so.
I recently spoke with Madame Alsfeld about the negative publicity she felt her administration received from The Daily Reveille. I spoke of my intentions to write a column that shed some light on the surrounding controversies, and she was eager to mention that King and Davies, just like the rest of SG, do not get paid. She then let loose in a miniature tirade about those “fucking Reveille writers who spin facts and don’t care about what Student Government actually does.” She also said I would be sorry if I printed this column.
Madame Alsfeld, even though I voted for you twice, I’m not the least bit apologetic about this column. By awarding the LSU Board of Supervisors’ scholarships to members of your executive staff, you have essentially said the benefits of being president should be spread to members of your cabinet. What gets lost are the dozens of students fighting their way through three jobs, children and any other circumstance that befalls the college student but who do not get recognized for lack of sitting under your presidential umbrella. You said to me yesterday on the phone, “You have to look at where your loyalty lies.” As an opinion columnist, my loyalty lies with the readers of The Daily Reveille and the student body.
You were elected president of the student body – the entire student body. I suggest you look at where your loyalties lie.
—-Contact Eric Freeman at [email protected]