As the wise uncle of a superhero once said, "with great power comes great responsibility." The issue of concentrating power in one person's hands instead of many has been an issue with the federal government for years. Yet a recent Graduate Student Association (GSA) scandal proves that power can cause problems at any level.
Over the course of the spring semester, GSA President Rachel Dwyer has dug a hole of scandal for her student government.
A letter obtained by The Spectrum has revealed that Dwyer fired the greatly-respected Sub Board Inc. (SBI) President and GSA representative Razy Kased for reasons including not working on behalf of graduate students, and accepting an open bar tab from the Undergraduate Student Association (SA).
Dwyer failed to provide any evidence to back these accusations. Mainly, the letter Dwyer gave to Kased was a personal attack. It was merely a way for Dwyer to disguise the trivial political reasons for Kased's removal.
After his removal from SBI, Kased was unanimously asked to stay on as a volunteer to finish the projects he started, which wouldn't have happened if Dwyer's claims had been legitimate.
Each of the six student governments has a different constitution. Under GSA's rules, Dwyer had the power to fire Kased. But that doesn't mean it was ethical.
UB's student governments are elected democratically. Therefore decisions need to be made democratically.
Power shouldn't be concentrated in the hands of any single student government executive. We as students should be working together rather than against each other.
The next GSA president should entertain a motion to reform the constitution so that people can't be fired unjustly. Future governments will benefit the action taken to prevent the right people from being removed for the wrong reasons.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
