Administrators attempt to stamp out student dissent with false unity

The duty of the ASBSU president and vice president is to represent the interests of the student body with sound mind and a good heart.

We cannot, shall not, and will not forsake our professional and moral responsibility to Boise State students by remaining silent in our dissent from university leadership.

These current times call for objective financial accountability, not subjective notions of unity. Previously, we were approached by executive administrators and asked whether or not we were garnering a petition declaring that excessive financial waste exists at Boise State.

It seems that Channel 7 had contacted different departments of the university in regards to a rumor that students were planning a petition that would declare BSU administrators guilty of financial waste.

Each administrator who approached us gave the same argument in virtually the same verbatim, “Don’t criticize the administration, because it will only hurt the school and the students.”

Implicitly, we are told that if we do anything negative towards the university leadership, the legislature will punish Boise State. We were told that we should “appear” to be united as a university during this difficult budget crisis, even though the people telling us this admitted no real unity exists within the university.

They admitted it would be a facade. Some even arrogantly asserted that since we are living in “a post-Sept. 11 world” we should all try to stand together during tough times. That type of emotive, manipulative argument is disturbing and ill-thought. Imagine if all organizations and governments since Sept. 11 refused to disagree with their leadership because they felt they should appear united. Scary, isn’t it?

When we respond that many students are dissatisfied with the financial accountability of this university’s leadership, we are told that it is our, “responsibility as student leaders,” to ensure that petitions and other negatively produced student actions do not occur during the next six to eight weeks.

Fellow students, if being a student leader means that when we dissent from the university leadership, we hurt the university and ultimately the students, then we refuse to be student leaders. However, we respectfully decline to accept their definition of student leaders.

We refuse to let the stakeholders of BSU have their investment jeopardized, whether it is in their education, the education of others, or employment.

As the elected representatives of 17,000 students it is our professional responsibility and as citizens it is our civic and moral responsibility not to. The minute we do not meet our professional, civic, and moral duty is the minute we resign from our jobs and leave our country.

Problems exist at BSU and it is our responsibility to address them. In these uncertain economic times with budget holdbacks and rising student fees, the last thing we should do is forsake critical analysis and financial accountability for dysfunctional and invalid arguments for unity.

As your elected representatives, we promise to do what we believe is in the students’ best interest. To do so, is nothing more than our professional and moral responsibility to students, employees, and supporters of higher education.

The community of BSU stakeholders is large and includes students, faculty, and staff of BSU, but alumni, the State Board of Education, the Idaho State legislature, private donors, and all taxpaying and future taxpaying citizens of Idaho. The sheer volume of stakeholders in BSU and Higher Education demands nothing less than our duty and responsibility to serve the student body with a sound mind and good heart.

Nate Peterson and Kara Janney, ASBSU president and vice-president

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