My name is Charles C. Johnson and I’m running for ASCMC President.
In Roman times, candidates were expected to appear wearing white togas, indicating their purity. It may well be true then that no one is without blemishes at a school this small and I’m certainly not without my faults.
But I care deeply about this school and I think I have some good ideas to improve. I hope you won’t let our past differences get in the way of the honest dialogue we deserve about our school. Student government ought to be about more than who you know, who your friends are, how much money you can raise for some pet cause or how big of a party you give days before an election. (That $25,000+ allocated for the exclusive Wedding Party doesn’t include the $249.00 for the balloon person or the $595.54 for the generator – to say nothing of the VIP tables we all have to pay for.)
It ought to be about ideas.
So here are mine:
- Elections for the Qualified, Not Appointments of Friends: There are many smart students here who have become disillusioned by the ASCMC student government because they see how administration after administration just appoints their friends to positions of power. If elected, I will not appoint my friends to a position. Rather, I will hold elections for every single position, save one – that of the Chief Financial Officer. This election includes ASCMC J-Board jurors, liaisons to the Board of Trustees, Secretary, curriculum committee members, Academic Affairs and the ASCMC Forum, among other positions. Those positions we cannot elect, we will require that all applicants have their applications placed online and every ASCMC meeting, no matter its nature will be online. Most will be on the CMC-equivalent of CSPAN. (Try not to get too bored.) And, in keeping with that transparency, every dime will be placed online. These reforms allow people with ideas to run on the strength of their ideas – and not who they happen to know -- and give an opportunity for a freewheeling student press to hold ASCMC officers responsible for the pledges they make.
- Parking Negotiations with Scripps College: Parking has gotten really atrocious with all of the ongoing construction. At the start of the year, I opposed the decision to ban freshmen from parking on the grounds that it was unfair and would likely lead to parking ninjas – people parking without permits. I was right. Just to the north quad lies a parking structure that is at maximum only 15% full. ASCMC should negotiate to allow us to park there and I will begin that process. Eventually, we could negotiate to have a five campus wide parking permit for those times when you don’t exactly feel like walking to class up at Harvey Mudd or Pomona.
- Turning Down Money For Myself, So That You Can Have More: ASCMC Presidents shouldn’t be running for room and board, but for the privilege of serving their fellow students. If elected, I will voluntarily abolish both the president’s special slush fund – “the president’s special fund” and my own room and board allotment. I encourage my competitors to do the same, if they are able. I will not fund any group on campus that does not have CMC members and will be more stringent about requiring non-CMCers to contribute their fair share to our parties. I will hold a referendum on whether or not we should continue to fund Ayer (the yearbook) and one of our biggest expenses per year at some $25,000+. Together, that should save us around $60,000 – money you will get back in the form of ASCMC rebates, which you can spend however you like. (Of course, I’m currently in talks with several local liquor stores for ASCMC discounts when you should spend that money. The thinking is that you’ll buy better booze than ASCMC does – not a tall order.)
- Ending Wasteful, Dishonest Spending: Claremont McKenna produces some of the finest accountants and financial thinkers in the country – and yet our budget, according to one former CFO, routinely leaks up to 30 to 40 percent. To put it less charitably, it is stolen. A few years ago, a CMC junior class president took (or "misplaced") between $6000 and $10,000 from Monte Carlo Night and then promptly dropped out of school. The money was never paid back. I would hit people caught taking money from ASCMC with a 1099 form. (If they are stealing money from us, they probably aren’t going to want the IRS to find out.) An email went out last semester that said that the “sloppiness” at the parties accounted for “a few g’s” over the then-past few weeks. I’d find out and hold those responsible for the damage.
- More Efficient Allocations of Club Funds: Clubs are part of what makes CMC extracurricular events such an enriching experience for so many of us. But what’s to be done about the clubs that get a disproportionate amount of money and have few members? What’s to be done about club leaders exaggerating the number of members they have, so as to get more funding? I propose that before any club receives funding, we should require its leaders to put in the card numbers of its members. Clubs where one card member appears too much will have their funding reduced – incentivizing clubs not to inflate their numbers and guarantee a fairer distribution of club member fees. (If this idea sounds as if it came from Freakonomics, that’s because it did.)
- Financial controls on parties: We have two parties coming back to back right now – the White Party and the Wedding Party. It strikes me that these parties were designed with the election of people to future ASCMC offices. These parties represent total boondoggles. When it comes to spending upwards of $20,000 – nearly a twelfth of ASCMC’s total budget – I will hold a referendum so that we can be sure that that’s money we want to spend. I will never authorize those large expenditures without calling for a school-wide vote.
If these ideas appeal to you, I’d appreciate your vote. I encourage you to run with me – for any and every position so that we can have a critical mass to get the job done. This platform is a work in progress, and I would appreciate any feedback -- positive or negative -- on the ideas presented. Let's make this a contract between you, me, and ASCMC to make our school better. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.
These past few days I gathered signatures for my run for ASCMC president. Within 10 hours, I had well more than the 200 I needed to be placed on the ballot. In the first day before we filed, I overturned a selective reading of the ASCMC constitution that would have made it a disqualifiable offense for you simply to read this platform here. And while I have formally challenged both of my opponents to a debate, ASCMC has decided that one should not take place. I think this is a mistake, and will gladly debate either or both of my opponents this Sunday or Monday Evening in the Bauer Forum on how we can go forward as a campus.
16 comments:
Charles,
"I will not fund any group on campus that does not have CMC members and will be more stringent about requiring non-CMCers to contribute their fair share to our parties."
As an alumni, from Pitzer, who worked on some of the largest events in the school year, I feel that you, and many previous ASCMC members, fail to see things with reality.
Quite frankly, it was consistently insulting that ASCMC would expect thousands of dollars from Pitzer for parties where they were unable or unwilling to tell us how many students came. In turn, CMC was consistently the worst at sharing their own funds for our own events.
Even this year, ASCMC holds the other schools hostage, threatening to not allow students from other colleges in without their respective student governments throwing in large pots of money.
I think that you, by stating this position, and previous ASCMC members, fail to see the very odd, diverse and unique social situation that the 5C's is. Many Pitzer students do not wish to attend CMC events, and visa versa. Yet when Pitzer makes every party open to any student on the 5C's, we were regularly unable to get even a few hundred dollars from ASCMC.
Each school has an unstated social mechanism - different schools tend to hold different events, both in turns of style and substance. ASCMC consistently ignores this, demanding more for their extraordinarily expensive events; events that are often closed or have quotas for each school.
And as for clubs without CMC members, will you promise to automatically fund them if/when a CMCer joins that club? Should clubs without a CMC member close their doors to CMC student in the year in which they are not given funding. You are stating, in my mind, that you do not wish to encourage CMC students to join 5C organizations.
I feel that you need to take a closer look at this policy, as you are towing the line rather than changing the way things work.
Response?
I think we're going to see a very different side of CJ until election time.
"BK, thanks so much for your heartfelt comments. I truly appreciate you taking the time to write to me. Pitzer is one of my most favorite colleges, so as a former student there, I really respect your thoughts and will be happy to consider everything you said. Love, CJ"
When are the elections anyway?
Charles,
You should really remove 'free thought is back' You delete one comment per post now.
Wait for the speech. You'll get the CJ you know and love.
As for the point made earlier, I'm deleting anything that is just a blatant attack on me. If you want to make an attack, have it be somewhat related to the content of the post. Trolls can go elsewhere.
And, to the Pitzer guy, Josh was actually right. Here's his response, which he took down.
To the above commenter:
(I'm not going to respond to subsequent comments)
We never have quotas for parties and have only restricted one party in the past two years to 5C students (it was a mistake).
Our two biggest parties of the past two years -- The White Party and The Wedding Party (tonight) -- are both open to 5C students. We didn't even ask for money from any of them.
And we never expect thousands of dollars from Pitzer or other schools for parties -- each student government at the 5Cs work very differently in their allocation of funding, structure, and role at each's respective school. We know that Pitzer can't just throw around a few thousand dollars for a party like we can. ASCMC and Pitzer Senate are hardly comparable.
"Wait for the speech. You'll get the CJ you know and love."
So excited!
When is the big speech? Will popcorn be provided or do we need to bring our own?
Tuesday night. Unfortunately ASCMC blew the popcorn budget on hookers and negative campaign ads. That's not actually true. Instead, they blew it on a balloon guy.
Charles, your response/Josh's is scary as it shows a lack of knowledge (and is scarier as you portend to know the facts). CMC constantly threatens other schools with "banishment" and "quotas" for specific parties. CMC routinely funds the least to other schools while asking Pitzer Senate and other clubs for hundreds/thousands of dollars.
To state the contrary is, sadly, to at best be incorrect and at worst, lie. I do not know Josh personally, but he could use a lesson in history. As the former chair of Pitzer Student Senate, I routinely had to ask CMC party planners not to attend our meetings as we clearly state what kinds of events the Senate could fund - and helped them with where to go. And time and time again, I was met with hostility, threats and overall anger.
And finally, Charles, I am saddened that you would not take the time to craft your own response. I sincerely believe that you do not understand your own position and to defer to someone else is not leadership.
My comment (which I deleted and didn't want to be posted) addresses this and last year only. Policies change every year.
I also didn't mention the phone call I got last night from some Pitzer girl threatening to not admit any CMCers into their party (that started two hours later) if I didn't immediately give her $500 more from ASCMC on top of the $500 we had already committed.
In responding to that threat, ASCMC took back the $500 commitment and gave nothing.
To BK: How can you even pretend to discuss Pitzer's student government and ASCMC in the same sentence? Are you not aware that youre alma mater's "student government" is now a collection of self-apointed and self proclaimed anarchists?
To Anonymous:
In somewhat of a defense of Pitzer students, the "anarchist" student government has pretty much been rejected by the majority of the community--demonstrated by the recent landslide rejection of their new anti-constitution.
A lot of Pitzer kids are spoiled, quixotic, and have WAY too much time on their hands, but this last semesters shenanigans at least demonstrated that the stoner/slacker/artsy crowd are somewhat of a minority in an institution that is really trying to pull up ideological bootstraps.
I think ASCMC pulling the $500 from the phone call was a wise choice and again, although I couldn't be further removed from Charles politically, I think it's situations like this that would make him the practical choice.
And after saying that, I'm going to now go and scrape my skin off in the shower and try to induce vomiting.
Charles,
While I agree that ASCMC finances need to be more strictly controlled and accounted for, your reference to the lost Monte Carlo funds leaves out some key information. Due to proper accounting in that case, we knew the money was missing, we tracked down the dropped-out former class president, and the money ended up back in our account.
You have an above-average understanding of ASCMC, for someone who has never been on the Board. I acknowledge and applaud that. But you have never been on the Board, and that experience is crucial to performing the duties of the president, because an intimate knowledge of the recent successes and failures of the organization provides a foundation for future improvement. Without at least a modicum of real institutional history, a president cannot effectively take the reins of the organization.
Should you win, I encourage you to improve upon ASCMC's flawed financial policies. There has always been far too much unaccounted-for cash floating around in the Executive Board. But in that case, I hope there are some veterans on the Board with you, because ASCMC is a tricky beast, and a novice might be in over his head.
Don't worry about Brad. They said the same things about Obama!
Stop deleting comments that are critical of you!
Here's a challenge for you: Put my original comment up and ask your readers to determine whether it's delete+remove worthy. Let the readers decide.
Also, why are you deleting and removing my comments?
I'm removing your comments because you are attacking me personally rather than addressing the substance of my post. See comment policy up top. Calling someone a "right wing nut" isn't very conducive to the discussion that should be fostered. Nevertheless, if you want to put your name up, when you're calling me that and I can be sure that it is you, I'll leave up whatever you want to say.
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