Editor's Note: Each UOSA Presidential candidate was asked to write a short column responding to the question: "How are you going to change OU? Not broad topics, but specifically, how are you going to achieve the goals you set in your platform with all the red tape and restrictions?”
UOSA, your student government, is irrelevant. The objective of my campaign and, if I am elected, UOSA has been, and will continue to be, transforming UOSA into an organization that is relevant and supportive of students.
My campaign has proposed a new direction for UOSA, a direction that is drastically different from the status quo of UOSA today, which is the direction my opponents seek to perpetuate.
Considering the low voter turnout in UOSA elections, low student awareness and low student participation in UOSA, it would seem apparent to most that UOSA should embrace a drastic shift in the way they carry out the students’ business at OU. This is what I offer.
UOSA’s existence must be predicated by the participation of students. We cannot accept anything less.
Recently, UOSA has been pursuing programs and events that do nothing to help students. How are they able to do this, to spend your money with little to no benefit to you? It’s a lack of student participation.
UOSA has created programs that do not depend on student involvement and are not based on filling a student need, thus isolating itself from the student body it claims to represent.
In my opinion, this is the underlying problem with UOSA.
For example, let’s take a look at UOSA’s Tailgate last fall. It’s just an additional tailgate event, minus the beer. It doesn’t fill a need in student life at OU. As an OU student, I personally find events like that offensive. Such events suggest UOSA feels another tailgate party overrides my needs for lower fees, academic support or help with my career search.
If elected, I will only pursue initiatives and programs that depend on the participation and support of students. I will not hesitate to cancel programs that do not attract the interest of the majority of students, because that is not what you need. Through the process of elimination, I will lead UOSA to the discovery of ideas, events and policies that students will see as worthy of supporting.
Many say this is impossible. I disagree. If UOSA can acknowledge the realities of its irrelevance and then earnestly engage students to find out what the pervasive issues are on this campus, the problem of irrelevance will dissolve.
Yes, the reasoning is simple. Yet those who currently lead UOSA are ignorant of these realities, because they are satisfied with the activities of UOSA in the recent past. And in this campaign, most of my opponents have been direct contributors to the perpetuation of UOSA’s irrelevance. Unless you desire a continuation of the status quo of UOSA, you should vote for a change.
If you are unaware of what UOSA is, that you, as a student, are a member of UOSA and that you pay a lot of money in the form of fees for UOSA to play with, you should vote for me.
If elected, I will reassert UOSA as the crossroads of student life. You will know what UOSA is, because you will see UOSA helping you, and you will feel UOSA helping you. Help me, help you.
Click here to read UOSA presidential candidate Ally Glavas' column
Click here to read UOSA presidential candidate Franz Zenteno's column
Click here to read UOSA presidential candidate Nick Harrison's column
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crimethink 2 years, 1 month ago
Dear Mr. Eddy,
I wholeheartedly disagree with you. The UOSA has been working hard this year to enhance its relevance and legitimacy by becoming more present in the daily lives of students. You yourself should know this because you worked in the Advocacy section of the very same Executive Branch Interior Department that hosted the UOSA Tailgates. Therefore I find it offensive that you say that "[s]uch events suggest UOSA feels another tailgate party overrides my needs for lower fees, academic support or help with my career search." This is absolutely not true about UOSA. Your Budget Council roll was under the same department that operated the Tailgate. How can you say then that it overides the needs for lower fees? There are many different departments within the Executive Branch as well as different committees, boards, and councils totaling hundreds of people that work for student concerns every day. Do they need to work more effectively, ask for more student input, and be more visible? Yes! But this cannot happen overnight. I assure you that UOSA is not ignorant to this situation. We just have not had the resources to fix this completely in the past year alone after years of UOSA neglect and problems. Yet rest assured that some progress has already been made, and it is my goal to complete this progress before I graduate. Thank you for your participation in this campaign. Active students make a brighter future.
Sincerely,
crimethink
crimethink 2 years, 1 month ago
P.S. I failed to mention this statement:
"For example, let’s take a look at UOSA’s Tailgate last fall. It’s just an additional tailgate event, minus the beer. It doesn’t fill a need in student life at OU."
I also disagree that the Tailgate "doesn't doesn’t fill a need in student life at OU." For a student that isn't involved in a student organization (a large number aren't), isn't Greek, and may be new to OU, the tailgate provides them with a place during OU pre-games that is open to all students. No OU student should miss out on the classic tradition of tailgating before football games. That is almost an essential part of being a Sooner. My foreign exchange friends love the UOSA Tailgate because they would not have a tailgate to attend otherwise. Eventually the organizers of the tailgate hope for the tailgate to grow and attract huge numbers of students. This would fill "a need in student life" beyond a place for students without other tailgates. It would provide a huge tailgate where all types of OU students are able to mingle together as one community.
crimethink 2 years ago
I wholeheartedly disagree. The UOSA has been working hard this year to enhance its relevance and legitimacy by becoming more present in the daily lives of students. Jess Eddy should know this because he worked in the Advocacy section of the very same Executive Branch Interior Department that hosted the UOSA Tailgates. Therefore I find it problematic that Jess Eddy says that "[s]uch events suggest UOSA feels another tailgate party overrides my needs for lower fees, academic support or help with my career search." This is absolutely not true about UOSA. His Budget Council roll was under the same department that operated the Tailgate. How can he say then that it overrides the needs for lower fees? There are many different departments within the Executive Branch as well as different committees, boards, and councils totaling hundreds of people that work for student concerns every day. Do they need to work more effectively, ask for more student input, and be more visible? Yes! But this cannot happen overnight. I assure you that UOSA is not ignorant to this situation. We just have not had the resources to fix this completely in the past year alone after years of UOSA neglect and problems. Yet rest assured that some progress has already been made, and it is my goal to complete this progress before I graduate.