POSTURING, RHETORIC & DRAMA? DID SOMEBODY SEE MORE OR PARTICIPATE SLIGHTLY?
This is truly sad news. I had faith in this organization and, at one time, the possibility of things turning around so that you could begin fulfilling the potential of this group. The group had made such amazing progress, but unfortunately, due to the bad choices of some members, those of you who were serious about the organization no longer have an organization. Even sadder is the fact that only two of the members in question have expressed responsibility and remorse for their bad decisions and actions. I doubt these individuals will ever understand the extent of the damage done or fully accept responsibility for the outcome. But it is done, so no use going on about it.
Despite my extreme disappointment in this outcome, I still have hopes that DMC will have a viable and productive SGA one day. I firmly believe in the importance of student governments at colleges and universities and hope that those of you who were serious about this organization can be part of a new and revamped SGA some day. In the meantime, if you need anything let me know. And I encourage those of you who were serious members to investigate membership in other organizations at the college. Learning how to work with others and accomplish common goals are excellent skills that will serve you well in college and in your future endeavors.
--
Donna J. Strong
Lab instructor, Office of Student Publications
Del Mar College, HC 210
101 Baldwin Blvd.
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
361/698-1246
e-mail: dstrong@delmar.edu
__________________
To "meluv2handleu@netzero.net"
cc jrivera@delmar.edu, hramos@delmar.edu
Subject SGA
Greetings: This E-Mail is to inform all Officers and Members That the Student Government Association-East Charter has been revoked, therefore, there will not be anymore meetings of the SGA. I would like to thank all officers and members for all the hard work in the past, always remain helpful to others. By helping others we help ourselves in being better people. Thank You! Joseph Ramirez
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I was thinking about the conversation about the State Conference and realized that some clarification is needed. Please remember that the college holds the Regional or State offices, NOT individuals. Del Mar College East Campus is the Bulletin and Parliamentary School for Region VI. Though you as a group may pick someone to take care of the duties, the group is ultimately responsible for that position. As for the "officers" having to be at the State Conference to swear in the new "officers", that is not accurate. Someone (it does not matter who it is) from the school holding the office hands off the title to the representative from the new college. After checking on this, as I suspected it will cause no difficulties with the process if a school passing the office is not able to attend, so there is no problem there.
As I said in the meeting, I cannot trust a number of you after the Regional Convention. I am still not sure whether I will be able to go to State or not, but it looks very likely. However, that breach of trust will affect decisions about who will attend the convention. My reputation is too important to me to risk and it is clear that some of you do not understand that your negative actions do not affect just you; they reflect negatively on the organization, the college and your advisor(s). I still think you owe the group an explanation and apology, but I'll leave that to you.
I have finally figured out why my disappointment with those events and those of you who participated is so profound - it is because the majority of you appear to have absolutely NO shame about your behavior and apparently no remorse either. That's amazing to me and it speaks volumes. For those of you who have not figured this out yet, I was serious when I said you own everything you say and do and (ladies and gentlemen who were involved) this debacle is all yours. However, I don't think it is right to punish those members who were not involved and the new members, so that may be the solution.
The quorum/no quorum issue at the last meeting is a good example of why you need to begin developing policies and learning the process by which your group operates. You could have gone either way. With an odd number of members, you either round up or down, the obvious choice being rounding down so you will have quorum rather than letting the "half" get in the way of taking care of your business. However, this is something the group must decide, not the chair or an officer, so an error was made at that time. The next time it arises, it needs to be discussed by the group and a consensus should be reached.
Elections of officers is an important issue that needs to be done quickly since you have really hobbled yourselves by holding elections for just two officers. Hopefully that will be on the next agenda.
I went through some buildings the other day and it appears your election notices and other materials are still posted all over campus. It would be nice if you would get that stuff taken down since there is no reason for that material to remain up.
I am happy you are finally going to hold a training - it is long overdue. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like to talk about and I'll be happy to provide information or answer your questions. This group can be a real dynamo if you can all put aside the silly distractions and bad choices that keep you from being just that.
Have a good weekend -
Donna
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I have some serious concerns that have been bothering me and I think it's time to share them. I am sending this to just a few of you for reasons which will become clear. If I have left someone out who should also read this, forgive me since no one seems to be willing to fully own up to the actions that I will discuss.
I sat there at Friday's meeting listening to all the contention, veiled attacks and more importantly, the high talk (let's call it what it was: rhetoric) about doing things for the students, representing the students, etc. I also gave plenty of thought to what I now know occurred during the conference and I realized Friday night that I am probably the only who sees the hypocrisy and irony in all your rather grand talk about representing the students.
It is amazing how little bits and pieces come together to form a whole picture, but that is how it was for me with this group. It is as I always believe: the truth will out and bad behavior is hard to cover up for long. I don't really care about details of the conference events because what I know is more than troubling enough. I also know many of you well enough to determine pretty certainly what the truth is. Since one of you was happy to open the gate, I was able to ask the proper questions of others and get a fuller picture. In light of other events, I am now more carefully considering the motivation behind the relating of the conference misbehavior and somehow feel there is more to it than simply wanting to enlighten me and take the load off a former member.
I had high hopes for the SGA, but they are slowly being eroded by the behavior exhibited at the conference, the constant scheming, conniving, and manipulating, never-ending gossiping, and disrespect for other members and the organization as a whole. I also have great concerns about the general inability (or refusal) of many of you to learn how to function in a group, i.e. to understand that it is no longer about you (and your personal agendas or self-promotion) when you join an organization. It is about the organization.
I want you to seriously consider the following: On a conference, paid for with student fees (paid into the Student Services Fund, from which you get your allotment, by the students you purportedly represent), you chose to indulge in outrageous and improper behavior rather than doing what you were there to do. You were drinking when you were explicitly told not to, but that was not bad enough. You then chose to carry the violation of your own constitution and the DMC Student Code of Conduct further by acting as though you were in some strip club - amazingly (to me at least) in front of people from other colleges. Student fees paid for you to attend a conference to learn things and take care of Region business and some of you did not even attend the sessions or participate in any way with the business you were sent there to do. I have heard many of you equivocate about this as if how many drinks you had or didn't have, whether you were drunk or not, or whether you were actively participating in the other activities matters. I can assure you none of it matters - though the degrees may differ, each of you is culpable.
To top it all off, you then feed up one of your members (that would be Maggie) like a sacrificial goat. As most of you know, when we were told Maggie had been drinking and was still up in the room asleep, I went up to the room with Jim Diehl and Alan to talk with her. We decided that the best action for her, the "honorable thing to do", would be for her to leave the conference and tender her resignation from the group. None of us saw any reason to embarrass the group or the college by airing her improper behavior for everyone at the conference. And understand that this was presented to us as if Maggie were the only one doing this kind of thing. Hindsight, however, is so much clearer, an unfortunate thing in this case. Had I known at the time the extent of the inappropriate behavior, I am sure we would most certainly have had other advice. For all of you who were culpable of improper behavior to sit back and let that happen was one of the most cowardly acts I have ever witnessed and my disappointment in, and disgust about, the events are immeasurable.
It should not be difficult for you to understand why hypocrisy and irony would be the outcome of this train of thought. The idea of you sitting in a meeting and talking about how you are going to represent students, your "responsibilities", etc. becomes somewhat ludicrous when your actions at the conference are taken into consideration. If I were a student, I would not be happy with you. You clearly violated your own constitution and the DMC Student Code of Conduct, yet there you sit as though nothing happened. That speaks clearly to me of your character, and it is not a pleasant message. None of you should have any problem understanding why I have serious misgivings about going to the state conference. Frankly, I don't think I could trust you to act appropriately, maturely and professionally.
I also cannot help but wonder what the other members who were not engaging in this behavior would think. I am not sure what, if any, action should be taken about this. It will consider some thought. But I do believe at the very least that you all owe the group an apology - how you go about that without revealing the extent of the improper behavior is up for debate.
The irony in all this is that many of you fought hard to wrest this organization from the hands of people who were abusing the SGA and its members. How many of you were critical of the improper behavior and actions at the Region Conference before this one? Yet here you are doing the same things and apparently with little or no remorse. Sadly, you have become what the former "regime" was and my hopes for this organization's renaissance are slowly slipping away. I am told that comments have been made about putting me in my "place" and that "advisors can be removed". The second comment is very true - your group is entitled to the advisor of your choice. If a new advisor is what you want, then so be it. This is your group, though I have little faith that many of you realize what that really means at this point in time. At the same time, this is all very interesting to me and, if accurate, speaks volumes about the person. I have invested significant time and effort in this group and its members because I believe in you as members/students and the organization's ability to be something really meaningful and a power on campus. I am, and always have been, one of the believers in the SGA, though not so much as it is now as in how it can be with the right members to guide it. However, somehow those comments re: the advisor fit right in with the direction I see this group going and make total sense in that context.
The majority of you know I am big on principle and doing the right thing. I have fought hard to teach you how to fend off efforts to decimate the SGA from those who would love to see it go down the toilet. Yet you insist on playing right into their hands because you cannot coalesce and join together for a common purpose, OR conduct yourself in a dignified, mature manner. I cannot put into words how sad this all is to me, but hopefully this message will give some of you an idea of my perceptions of this group as it stands now and help you understand that the impact of your improper actions and dysfunctional interaction go far beyond you.
Donna
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