The time was 4:45AM when I sent my older brother off to save the world. We had our share of differences, but now he's off to the Peace Corps to Kyrgyzstan to help out a developing city.
While sending him off, there were no slow-motion moments, in fact the TSA security guards kicked us out for sitting in the ticket-holders only area. At least we got to sneak a couple of extra minutes with him.
You know, I've been all over the globe with him. I remember the long car rides from Chicago to...Florida, Kentucky, Texas, California, New York, and every state in between. I can't get over the fact that when we were young, we got into fights in the long car rides and complained a lot of the way. It was fairly easy to get cabin fever in a family with three other brothers. Together we saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon, Ground Zero, and every tourist trap imaginable from wax museums to a town with more fudge shops than any other local business.
Because of all those infamous family road trips, we've been conditioned to sleep every time we get on a car, bus, truck, etc. as a defense mechanism to pass the time. That and we've become experts at holding it in like no other.
However, this time is different. I can't go with him to watch his back in a totally different country. After his two year commitment is up, I'll probably be in grad school, law school, etc. I can't begin to imagine how different we'll both be. But he did tell before he left, that he, "was freaked out" about how serious I got about politics while at UIC. Now I'm not a political science major, but I am glad that he saw how dedicated I became to helping others out at college, citing the current campaign I was running.
So I made a deal. While he's across the globe, helping the impoverished, I'd do my best to make the campus a better place. A lot of expectations to live up to now that I've been challenged by a member of the Peace Corps to change things. I won't let him down. It's a challenge that I gladly take on. So wherever he is right now, probably sitting in a plane bound overseas, I'd like him to know that I'm up to the challenge...and that he forgot to bring his CDs.
-Bernard Mariano
Presidential Candidate
"Take Back the Campus"
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
An exciting election year at UIC
The upcoming election for student government at UIC is going to be one of the most exciting our campus has ever seen. One of the best parts about this year’s election is the increase in competition from last year. The number of candidates running for student trustee, president, and vice president has increased, giving the students a wide range of people to choose from. There are also several new candidates running for the general assembly that will be sure to make a difference in student government.
Students will have a number of opportunities to get involved in this year’s election. Two debates will be held – one on the west side on April 7 and another on the east side on April 9. These will be great opportunities for students to hear what the candidates have to say and to ask challenging questions – which is really important to do in order make the best decision when voting.
There will also be an event which is being organized with an exciting and new student organization called Students for Change. They plan on holding a meet and greet event on April 8 (5-7pm) inside the Jane Addams Hull-House, a place which has a vast political history.
I hope you will join in this year’s election because it will certainly be one of the most exciting UIC has ever seen.
-Joel
Why this is important
In many ways, institutions such as a university are built upon a hierarchical system. We have our Deans and Provosts, followed by Assistant Deans, faculty, graduate students and so on down the line. The hierarchy is distributed for managerial purposes, which gives certain groups the ability to make decisions effecting the other groups. In essence, we find ourselves in what can only be likened to a food chain.
Yet the existence of an Undergraduate Student Government allows for us to not be completely subject to these other institutional bodies. It allows us a certain amount of freedom, the opportunity to make decisions for ourselves, to step forward and take on the responsibility of self-governance. We must explicitly recognize the full weight of the term "self" as used here, for it means quite literally "student's helping students."
The fact is that we find ourselves in a position which we cannot deny. We cannot brush aside this opportunity by ignoring the things we know must be addressed at some point, by someone. The facts are that WE are in such a position, WE have the opportunity to enact change, and therefore WE have the responsibility to look out for one another's interests as students. We must always think of these rights as also our duties.
-Sean Murray
Yet the existence of an Undergraduate Student Government allows for us to not be completely subject to these other institutional bodies. It allows us a certain amount of freedom, the opportunity to make decisions for ourselves, to step forward and take on the responsibility of self-governance. We must explicitly recognize the full weight of the term "self" as used here, for it means quite literally "student's helping students."
The fact is that we find ourselves in a position which we cannot deny. We cannot brush aside this opportunity by ignoring the things we know must be addressed at some point, by someone. The facts are that WE are in such a position, WE have the opportunity to enact change, and therefore WE have the responsibility to look out for one another's interests as students. We must always think of these rights as also our duties.
-Sean Murray
On Transparency
What is the role of transparency in a representative government? The best way to address this question is via it's opposite, namely secrecy. Much has been said about secrecy, from its signaling of moral depravity to possible utilitarian functions. But the fundamental kernel of secrecy in all possible settings, whether public or private, is universal. Secrecy is the mask of fear.
Secondly, we must better examine the multiple forms of secrecy, specifically in how they relate to the dissemination of information. I hope it is not too far a stretch to state that when a populous is given the right to govern themselves, whether as citizens of a state or students of a university, the truth of the provided information for which they are to base their decisions is paramount to all other considerations in the election process. When democracy is run on deception, it is not so much a democracy as a folly.
Students for Better Government is not intended to use the Democratic System for any advancement through personal motivations, but only to preserve and protect the the democratic process itself. This can only be done with transparency. Because to think of transparency as an aspect of democracy is to belittle it of its rightful place. Instead, democracy should be the legal institution of transparency amongst people. In other words, transparency must and should always precede the democratic process, for the two are inextricable.
-Sean Murray
Secondly, we must better examine the multiple forms of secrecy, specifically in how they relate to the dissemination of information. I hope it is not too far a stretch to state that when a populous is given the right to govern themselves, whether as citizens of a state or students of a university, the truth of the provided information for which they are to base their decisions is paramount to all other considerations in the election process. When democracy is run on deception, it is not so much a democracy as a folly.
Students for Better Government is not intended to use the Democratic System for any advancement through personal motivations, but only to preserve and protect the the democratic process itself. This can only be done with transparency. Because to think of transparency as an aspect of democracy is to belittle it of its rightful place. Instead, democracy should be the legal institution of transparency amongst people. In other words, transparency must and should always precede the democratic process, for the two are inextricable.
-Sean Murray
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