Don't just stand there

To the Editor,

I am curious as to the juncture at which we, as informed university students, separate leadership, justice and politics as a means to eliminate the immoral and unethical elements of each. As a concerned member of the student association, as all of my colleagues who are paid members of the undergraduate student body are members, I am troubled by the fraudulent use of my student activities fees in past and present broken politics. The true violation of trust, as spoken in the last issue of The Spectrum, arises as we rush to judgment of a seemingly wholly politically motivated situation. It is time that we turn a new leaf and reject acting upon impulse and emotion based on hearsay. Until this point it seems we have been bamboozled, hoodwinked, the political cloth has been pulled over our eyes. Let us sit back, ask questions and analyze this mess in its entirety so that justice (not some political agenda) is served.

Firstly, I call to question the lack of aggression in rallying the student body by the victim or friends of Akash Chakravarty. If we, as an informed student association, look into the allegations of the accused it would seem that such a well supported movement to remove President Hassan Farah would have been lead or at least heavily participated in by Mr. Chakravarty and friends. As we look to the facebook group Student petition against SA President Hassan Farah, that has been created by John Martin (Student Representative on the University Council), such participation in an administrative role is lacking. The administrators include our Vice President Ernesto Joaquin, Treasurer Jordan Fried, SUNY Delegate Amanda Jones, Chief of Staff Elian Abou Jaoude, Sports Coordinator Shervin Stoney, International Coordinator Andrilisa Read, Engineering Coordinator Greg Robbins, Academic Coordinator Cheryl Mohabir, and SISH Coordinator Nicholas Orrange. Now I do not sanction the actions of our Hassan Farah, but at what point we draw the line between justice and political motive.

If we were to draw a diagram to link the aforementioned members of the Farah Administration who have publicly taken the lead in a case that is still under investigation we would find that Cheryl Mohabir, Andrilisa Read, Greg Robbins, and Elian Abou Jaoude were the key opponents in last years presidential elections, running on the Unified ticket as President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Campaign Manager. In addition Ernesto Joaquin served on the executive board of a club with Andrilisa Read. At some point in my research into the true nature of this situation I was lost in a pool of politics with justice out of sight. If we are to let our emotion and opinion rather than reason be our guide it would leave me with a sour taste to see our elected officials choose political power over justice. This seems like a scene from Julius Caesar except President Farah has actually committed a crime and (let us not forget) has already been punished by university standards. It seems that this group of politically motivated conspirers that have chosen to take the law into their own hands. This is our leadership, this is what we pay for, and if politics are made to gain power before justice we need redefine our democracy. Justice will not be served by impeachment, your parents slapped you or stood you in the corner as a child and they had you for a moment, but was there growth? We need to address the issues of diversity, leadership, values and emotionless change.

Secondly, it takes me aback to see John Martin, who has played his role in what many students agree to be a failed two years in government as Treasurer, would take the lead in such a situation. As a representative of the entire student body on the University Council it would seem that some code of conduct was set in place to prevent him from toying in the garbage surrounding undergraduate politics. It strikes me as strange, moreover, that he would reach down from his post amongst university ‘big wigs', to head the movement. Until this point the other student governments have kept quiet (there are six others that he represents by the way), but yet he stands at the front of this movement to remove the man that he should be in most constant contact with. Sadly, this is not a fight for justice for Mr. Chakravarity, for justice comes through mandatory service and required attendance at the IDC and CSLICE. This, my friends, is the same mud slinging politics that has defined our student body for generations.

Finally, regardless of what was said in that tunnel or hallway Hassan Farah was terribly wrong and Mr. Chakravarity should have been proactive in assembling friends and associates to support his case, but he didn't. His judgment has tooled a political machine that seemingly has forgotten the hard work done in the time since this case has gone public internally. I could only imagine working in a hostile environment where everyone I appointed, everyone I hired has rallied against me. If he is impeached none of the aforementioned players need be on the ballot, we will not allow a corrupt justice system. I leave you with this, the Student Association has been more political and less functional for long enough. Don't sign any petition, join the assembly or the senate. Don't just stand there, be informed, rally for justice and not just the same old politics that makes our university, our student government and ultimately you look bad. Thank you for your ear.

Percival Black