Editor: ??
Disaster! Debacle! Arrogant, egotistical disregard! These are just a few of the sensational words and phrases used to describe the most successful Associated Students of the University of Utah program of the ’05-’06 school year in Aaron Zundel’s editorial. Once again, The Chronicle is beating a dead horse. Those who cared that the P.O. overspent (i.e. The Chronicle) have had ample opportunity to read all about Andy Murphy and his supposed ineptitude.
The rest of us just don’t care anymore. Zundel’s editorial about Andy Murphy and the Presenter’s Office not only rehashes old facts that no one seemed to care about the first time they were printed, but it also flagrantly misleads readers.? Zundel called for students to march into ASUU with righteous indignation, demand to see budgets and call for the heads of Andy Murphy, Jessica Nuffer and others. This would be a great idea…if anyone actually cared about the overspending. While students should be concerned about their student fees, they should be happy that they were spent as part of something they could attend and enjoy rather than letting that money sit in some surplus fund, never to be seen by those who paid those fees.
Even more to the point, ASUU as a whole still ended up in the black-to repeat, ASUU DID NOT OVERSPEND AS A WHOLE. Student fees were managed responsibly by our student government, and as a result, we were able to enjoy one of the greatest concert series ever to come to this campus.??
Furthermore, Zundel told students to go into the Union Programming Council’s office to demand Murphy’s resignation and call for a more suitable replacement to manage “our money.” For those who don’t know, Murphy is the director of House and Operations for the UPC, and yes, he manages a budget of several thousand dollars. What Zundel conveniently forgot to mention is that the budget of UPC-including House and Operations-comes from revenue from the Union.
Not one damned dime of UPC’s budget comes from student fees, unless someone in ASUU decides to co-sponsor an event. Perhaps Zundel just made a mistake…or perhaps something more nefarious and misleading is going on. I know where my money lies. One would think that a student newspaper, especially our self-proclaimed “only source for campus news,” would ensure that its columns aren’t designed to mislead the uninformed. To quote Zundel, “there is absolutely no defense at all for such a flagrant display of gross negligence.”
Madson Thompson
Sophomore, physics and mathematics
ASUU Assembly, College of Science