I really wish I did not have to write this letter. However, I feel that it is incumbent upon myself to respond to the ridiculous items printed in the current issue of Visions.
I encourage all UB students to pick up a copy of Visions, if for no other reason than to find out how childish and self-aggrandizing their elected student leaders are. As many UB students might recall there were elections held for SA executive board as well as NYSSA delegates last month. It is important to point out that these elections have been over for more than a month now. I, and all the other members of the UB Students' Party, have gotten over our loss and have moved on with our lives. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the victors, the Results Party.
After attacking the UB Students' Party during the election for using childish tactics and mudslinging during the election, the Results Party is now doing just that. The entire first page of Visions is a pointed attack on myself as well as all the other members of my party. Josh Korman, current SA vice president, wrote this piece. Korman refers to political science majors as "career politicians who are trying to get practice making headlines with empty venomous political rhetoric." I take personal offense to this, and so should all political science majors. In addition, Korman refers to the fact that our party was found guilty of libel by the Elections and Credentials Committee. This is indeed true. However, it must be noted that the definition of libel used bore no resemblance to the definition accepted worldwide as legally significant. The definition they used convicted us of criticizing the record of the incumbent party. Censorship like that may have worked in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but it doesn't work here in America.
Later in Visions, newly elected SA Vice President Jen Brace makes more obligatory cheap shot comments on the "nastiness of the past election." Later in her interview, Brace discusses the fact that the Elections and Credentials Committee sanctioned the UB Students' Party because we "mismanaged campaign funds and falsified financial records." This is simply not true. We were originally sanctioned for "failure to provide original receipts for campaign expenses." What Brace also fails to mention is that the UB Students' Party later had those sanctions overturned by SWJ, because it was discovered that the Elections and Credentials Committee acted in inappropriate ways, which led to that sanction. She, like Korman, needs to get her facts straight.
If Korman and Brace want to see real libel they need look no further than their respective pieces in Visions. This is libel in every sense of the word, and the law is with us on that.
As for the accusations of negative campaigning, I ask the Results Party, how did we engage in mudslinging? How did we engage in childish tactics? We merely pointed out where we thought your leadership was lacking. This is how campaigns are run.
UB undergrad money pays for Visions as well as the phones that are given to SA staff, as well as the trips that SA staff goes on, as well as all the other needless perks that SA staff has. The masthead of Visions reads that Visions is "the Student Association's biweekly promotional newsletter aimed at advertising and publicizing Student Association events and clubs." I don't see how trashing other UB students falls into that category.
Finally, I have some advice for the Results Party. You won, get over it.
