Page 6 - The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, November 21, 1996
MCC's removal...
Two views of the controversy
MCC is over privileged and
over represented MCC represents
the minority
by John Rossomondo
Collegian Sniff
The Multi-Cultural Council
presents an undying dilemma. Why
should their constituent
organizations he granted privileges
that no other campus organization
has.
I know of no other student clubs
on this campus that have their own
office or have more clout. The
question here is not whether the
Multi-Cultural Council provides
services to its members or to a
certain extent, the campus
community. While it is true that
the MCC represents ethnic
minorities and provides them with
social outlets. It is also true that
they possess privileges that are not
extended to other student
organizations.
When it comes time to enact
reforms that would result in a level
playing field in SGA for all student
organizations the MCC works to
maintain the status quo. How many
organizations on campus have
voting members of the SGA budget
committee. Does the German Club
or say the lEEE have a
representative to help them pass
their budgets in SGA. Last year the
MCC received $lO,OOO in
allocations while the average
organization received around two or
three hundred dollars. Influence has
its rewards.
They argue that their
representative is fair and unbiased,
and that all student organizations
have the ability to get a hearing on
their budget items. The big
difference with the MCC in the past
has been that they have had an
organizational structure to
effectively promote their interests,
where as the average organization
has not.
As you can tell, both John and Colleen are very passionate about their positions on this issue. John,
as a member of SGA, feels defensive and tries to rationalize the situation to explain SGA's position.
Colleen, who is a member of an organization in the Multi-Cultural Council feels victimized and
lashes out in violent sarcasm at John's position.
I do not want to take up either position, hut instead, try to understand what happened and propose a
solution
SGA claims that MCC is in fact over represented in the SGA budget committee. As a voting
member, they could he present and lobby for all their umbrella organizations.
The MCC organizations reactions are quite stereotypical, we are underrepresented on campus and
the council is, our way of coping with our minority status. However, our representative to the Budget
Committee is not bias.
This week Colleen has changed that position to, yes, we are bias, but so is everybody else. All
members of the budget committee have an agenda and belong to other organizations, and besides,
everybody gets to argue their budgets before the committee.
Colleen's position is more understandable this week, but it still is not a correct assessment of the
situation. Not every organization has somebody on the SGA Budget Committee, and therefore never
has a sure vote. MCC organizations have a sure vote. Even MCC must admit that it is not fair to have
a sure vote for their organizations when others are underrepresented.
SGA has removed MCC from the Budget Committee, and now MCC argues that the voting
members are still members of other organizations, and while they have taken away the sure vote from
MCC's organizations, they remain and vote in favor of their own organizations. Yes, they do still have
a sure vote. The answer then is not to argue with SGA about policy. SGA is notorious for being
unmovable in their decisions. In fact, it's like banging your head with a sledgehammer. The answer is
to find another way onto the Budget Committee to again be represented. It will not be through the
MCC. The organizations in MCC, as they have already banned together, should back a candidate for
SGA office, It is very possible to stuff the ballot box in the SGA election as only about two hundred
people voted in the last election
MCC can come up with the power to elect one of their members to an SGA office. Nothing can be
done this year, the damage is done, as they say. In think for next year, a candidate is the way to go.
Once in an SGA office, the constitution could be changed back to allow MCC on the Budget
Committee
John points out that MCC has too much power. As a community of organizations they can throw
around weight, the elections are an example of the exploitation of this power. The current members of
SGA can not win re-election without a serious opposition from MCC.
If I were a current member of SGA I would not be afraid. MCC lacks the organization to pull off
anything as big as the election. The organizations under MCC have little in common, even their
minority status divides them on important issues.
In actuality, the MCC organizations received 53 percent of the SGA allocated funds this year. Their
six organizations received $47,000. Yes, this does include SPC which provides entertainment on
campus.
Still, six organizations took up half of the money. SGA took another 17.3 percent and The Collegian
11.7 percent. The organizations that should be angry about the budget committee are the other
organizations that received fractions of a percent.
What is the answer to this whole mess? MCC organizations receive 53 percent of the budget and
probably will next year even without the vote.
There is a movement to limit the number of organizations on campus, therefore the remaining
organizations can receive more money. The question is, which organizations go? Who should have the
right to say which group is less important to the academic atmosphere here at Behrend? The existing
rules for organizations are not followed and are often bent to make way for new organizations. Part of
the answer may be in enforcing the membership requirement. All organizations must have at least a
set amount of members to exist on Behrend
Another way to thin organizations may be to remove funding for those organizations that do not
contribute to the community of Behrend.
I'd like to point out that John's suggestions to minorities has always offended me in there blind
simplicity. His suggestions on how to become a better citizen will never help. He is, in his advice
giving, propagating the oppression that he intends to illuminate. I am White Male, I have the answer.
Come minorities, listen to me.
In the same sense, my suggested answers are not to be trusted, although I in no way suggest an easy
answer. I have not solved the problem, but only complicated it. The politics are warped on both sides.
As intelligent people we understand the positions and should filter the facts through the speaker. In
this case both articles are very opinionated to the point that they are unhelpful. Both writers believe
that there position is obviously the correct one, and needs little explanation. As a consequence they
fall into lost sarcasm, and drift into giving advice to those less fortunate.
I commend SGA for removing all
Councils from the Budget
committee so that all organizations
can have equal consideration in the
budgeting process. To give the
MCC or any other Council a vote
on the Budget Committee would
have been tantamount to allowing a
child to keep its hand in the cookie
jar.
MCC opposed this measure
because they knew that it would be
a blow to their power on campus.
He who controls the purse strings
has control of all. Money is power
and power is influence. Who would
blame a powerful organization such
as the MCC for working to retain
their power and influence.
I am sure that my MCC friends
would argue that they and their
subsidiary organizations deserve an
office because it promotes their
visibility. The fact that they have
been given an office further
promotes their power because it
gives them a base to work from. I
have nothing against the MCC
having office space, but on the
condition that they are willing to
share their office space with any
organization on campus that desires
to have an office.
We cannot grant a certain group
of organizations privileges without
also granting them to other groups.
Chad's turn
by Chad Clouse
Opinion Editor
As I recall, the MCC used to have
just one office for all of its
organizations, when SGA still
occupied the area across from the
mailroom. Why now does each
organization represented by the
MCC have their own office? I urge
SGA to consider passing a
resolution calling on the MCC to
open their office space to all
interested organizations on campus.
I ask the MCC why should their
organizations have an office and the
seventy other registered campus
organizations be denied an office?
There is absolutely nothing wrong
with the MCC having one office
for all of their organizations on the
grounds that the Commuter
Council, SPC, and Lion
Ambassadors have an office, but a
suite of offices is ridiculous.
I urge the presidents of the
organizations on campus to submit
requests for office space in the
MCC suite.
Submit your requests to the SGA
office or be present at the next
students speak out. Why the MCC
office, because it is the only spot
on campus where student
organizations can establish offices.
It is simply unfair and
discriminatory for one group of
organizations to have an entire suite
of offices while no other
organization or group of
organizations do not.
I know many members of the
MCC and overall they are decent
people, but the ideology that they
stand for results in the division of
the campus community rather than
the unity of the campus
community.
I say this because I can only
speak about what I can see with my
own eyes. Most students see MCC
events and say, "There is another
one of those useless events that I
could care less about."
I am the first person to condemn
racism and bigotry, but I see a total
failure by the MCC to embrace the
community. While their social
functions are open to the entire
campus community, in the end,
only their members attend because
they intimidate some people. They
intimidate many white students
because they perceive the MCC as a
"minorities only" organization.
I know this is irrational thinking,
but perception is reality. I have
been at Behrend for four years now,
and I have yet to see the MCC
make constructive efforts to reach
out to the majority community. It
is nice that they have their events,
but they have failed to appeal to the
majority of white students on
campus.
Diversity is integration, but
MCC as it stands today is more or
less a segregated organization.
I really don't believe the MCC
projects a positive image to most
white students. I for one would
never think of joining an MCC
organizations because I really don't
think that I would be accepted as a
conservative white Roman Catholic
male.
The MCC could do a lot of good
on this campus if it would
aggressively work to promote a
positive image among white
students. The best way to fight
racism and ethnicism is not to go
all out in showing your pride in
your heritage because most people
are turned off by that approach. 1
advise the MCC to make a
conscious effort to make white
students comfortable and then move
slowly on the right course. Don't
try to do too much too quickly or
you will fail.
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by Colleen Fromknecht
There has .been some talk in
recent weeks that MCC, along with
other councils who sit on SGA, are
"special interest" groups. The
phrase special interest is said with a
sneer, as if those who are members
of this body of mysterious people
somehow must be bad boys and
girls. Everyone knows that "special
interests" are evil people who try to
take over any group they are
affiliated with in order to force their
views (and make a profit) on the
poor unsuspecting public. Wake
up, people! Everyone whO breathes
and has a rational thought is a
member of a special interest group!
Do you buy text books? Oh oh!
The dreaded special interest group
has raised its ugly head again.
Didn't you know that consumers are
a special interest group? Do you
drive? Do you play sports? Do you
go to religious services?
Now it seems to be a trend to use
the term special interest as a
buzzword to rally people toward the
conservative, right wing view of
life. Groups like MCC are
particularly vulnerable to this
tactic. It put MCC on the defensive
and implies that the members are
doing something wrong by joining
forces. This has got to stop! MCC
is an organization of
underrepresented students, nothing
more and nothing less. Its members
do not have magical powers that
can be used to sweep down and grab
gobs of money to funnel for their
nefarious purposes. Members do
not pull the strings of the people of
SGA so that these members will do
exactly as MCC wants it to do. (If I
_: •j i. i
were an SGA member I would be
insulted by this one; puppets have
no minds!)
What MCC does is to provide a
place where any student can come
to meet with MCC members and
gain the feeling that they are not
alone. The MCC Resource Center
is a meeting place for many
different types of students on
campus. The one common
denominator MCC members have
is that we are all "minority" groups
who are underrepresented on
campus. We are the voice and the
listening post for those who do not
"fit the mold" of the average college
student.
MCC organizations hold many
events throughout the year. These
include (hut are not limited to)
Friday Fiesta which kicks off
Cultural Week, the Kwanzaa
Dinner, The Holiday and Easter
Carnivals, Buddy Weekend, Ally
Day, Take Back the Night,
Harambee Dinner, Cultural Fiesta,
poetry readings, and various events
during Orientation.
Members work hard throughout
the year to "Reach out" and try to
communicate with as many
students as they can. I heard that
even an SGA Senator showed up at
Friday Fiesta. We work hard and
will fight even harder so the certain
"special interest" groups who want
to deny MCC their rightful place in
the student body will come to
realize the error of their ways.
Stop by when you have a
minute, and I'll clear up any
uncertainties about MCC's position
at Behrend. I'll even spring for
coffee!
IM;1511 4l"""."
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