I had been leery of Student Assembly from the beginning. My first encounter was last March, when the Graduate Student Employees Union’s Lobby Day and SA’s SUNYpalooza fell on the same day. GSEU members crashed the SUNYpalooza rally, giving the mic to students who were mad that SA, in their name, was advocating against their own interests. Of course, I’m talking about “rational” tuition, a plan to raise tuition 30% in the next five years, part of SUNY 2020 and declared a student victory by SA.

My involvement with SA was accidental. Last spring, the President of the Graduate Student Association at UB asked me if I would like to attend as a voting delegate. He knew I had expertise in current events with SUNY, especially fiscal issues and government policy, as I am active with GSEU and other organizations. I went to the conference and, after a long weekend of sitting through absurd personnel complaints and a drawn-out executive board election process, I went home as a newly-minted graduate representative.

Staying Positive

SA’s support for “rational” tuition has already damaged credibility in the eyes of many students, including student government leaders, but that’s just scratching the surface. There is the antidemocratic way in which executives are selected at a conference, not through a popular vote. There is the Board of Trustees’ short fiscal leash. There is the constant, hovering presence of System Administration.

Yet I thought participating was worth a shot. Student government is an important structure, and one which should be taken seriously. So I gave it my all – attempting to build contacts with graduate students whose buy-in is minimal. I also felt like I could bring some perspective to the table within SA: in two consecutive weekends in Albany, I attended the founding retreat of New York Students Rising, a grassroots student advocacy network of SUNY and CUNY students, and the transitional retreat for SA. These two organizations could not be more different: where NYSR is open to all, built on a consensus model of decision-making, and wholly independent, SA is closely regulated, relies on parliamentary procedure, and heavily influenced by System Administration.

I thought bridging the differences would open up new avenues of discourse, and SUNY students would get more than they would with just one organization working on their behalf. SA also gave me the opportunity to peer inside System Administration, to see how the machine works, even as I was organizing with NYSR to critique and resist it. In the end, the systemic problems were simply overwhelming.

The Problem is Structural

The problems begin at the campus level. Some campuses hold elections, but in many cases, representatives to SA are appointed by the executive boards of their local governments. Thus, appointees vote on resolutions and select the executives that System Administration so proudly says are democratically elected, and in order to successfully run for office, you need to have the blessing of your local student government. You have to attend Spring Conference to even be considered for office: you must be selected to attend, or be friends with delegates.

This is a simple fact: an executive committee elected during a meeting of arbitrarily-chosen representatives is not democratic. In no possible world is this democracy. To call it democracy is an affront to what is understood to be democracy. SA is set up to be nepotistic — those who are most involved and committed know and support one another. Those who are less involved, which is most voting delegates, tend to just allow the inner circle to play at legislation as they see fit.

SA is also kept on a tight leash by the Board of Trustees financially — all its funding comes from them, and any in-kind or monetary donations that the governments of specific schools are willing or able to contribute. And — big surprise here — the Board of Trustees is hacking away at SA’s budget.

If the money and elections weren’t enough, System Administration keeps SA in a stifling bear hug at the highest levels. This is partially an effect of history: in 1970, a SUNY-wide student organization called the Student Association of the State University was created by students to give us a voice in the halls of the legislature. As a response, the Board of Trustees created the Student Assembly in 1973, though the two organizations coexisted for about twenty years. Ultimately, the Board of Trustees essentially strangled SASU out of existence, leaving the organization of their own invention in place.

Today, the President of SA is a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees, which is actually quite problematic. Due to the electoral process in SA, the President must pass a series of selective filters, as I’ve described. And the President, regardless of beliefs going into a Board meeting, is so frequently intimidated, coaxed, or flattered by members of the Board and the Chancellor that it’s easy to forget the core reason for being there: to represent students’ best interests.

People in System Administration proudly point to SA as the democratic voice of the students, when in reality it is playacting at representative democracy. Its decisions and processes happen far from the needs and concerns of the majority of students. I became a graduate representative by default, because so few graduate students participate. This yields a culture that is toxic to true democracy. We all run a little scared, worried that popular opinion will oust us from office as easily as we settled in.

Finally, to add insult to injury, System Administration uses these “democratic” decisions and proceedings to discredit popular organizations which are promoting counter-narratives, while also throwing SA under the bus. This is irritating at best, and dangerous at worst. It allows System Administration to manage the discourse, using SA as a pawn, on every issue. Even when members of the executive committee speak out on issues important to students, System Administration representatives steer resolution language toward a safer, less assertive timbre.

These are struggles that occur outside the public eye – a testament to the fact that many in SA believe in advocating for what students want, regardless of what System Administration thinks. A great example in the past few months has been the debate over the Chancellor’s Shared Services proposal. Yet due to intentional limiting of leadership and a fatally damaged process, System Administration exercises a great deal of control over what gets said and how. In the fallout of the state-wide walk-outs, System Administration also didn’t hesitate to make SA a scapegoat for “rational” tuition in order to shift blame away from itself. It is clear why SA is useful to our administrators and Trustees, and why this broken system needs to be fixed.

Solutions to the Problem

As I mentioned before, student government in much of the SUNY system, and certainly here at Buffalo, is quite radical: construct a system where students have agency to support each other outside  the control of faculty or administrators. Very few other campuses in the country have this kind of autonomy, and therefore the chance to make independent decisions and advocate for their own self-interest. This began as an experiment to give students agency in the process of shared governance that, up until that time, was reserved for faculty. Frankly, at present, SA completely undermines this process.

As someone who has seen this organization’s functioning from within as well as critiqued it from without, I do not believe that SA can be reformed. On the contrary, I believe the bylaws must be scrapped, the process re-imagined, and students given back their own democratic government. Perhaps a guiding light could be to look at current grassroots organizing efforts, or the history of SASU.

I want to emphasize that the problem is not the people in the organization. There is a refreshing amount of critical thinking going on in SA, and it is fair to say that the entire executive committee firmly believes it is helping students. Being misguided when you haven’t been exposed to alternative points of view is not a crime, but failure to seek them out, especially as a leader, is a problem.

Student government is a necessary phenomenon, but it’s time for a change: System Administration is steering a course that has been charted already, and we are hauling at its oars. “Rational” tuition is little more than a smokescreen, after all. It’s part of a bigger plan to run SUNY aground on the same shoals that crippled the University of California. A little mutiny in the ranks is crucial now.

What SUNY’s student body needs now is a frank conversation about what it means to be a part of this great system. It needs leaders who ask hard questions and seek new ideas. It needs to stand up for itself. It needs to innovate on its own behalf. I have always believed we have the expertise to solve SUNY’s problems more creatively than System Administration, the state legislature, or the governor. We just have to be willing to think big, participate, and speak up. Student government should be a conduit for innovation, not a dam.

Cayden Mak is an adjunct instructor and graduate student at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. This was originally posted as an online supplement to the Buffalo Disorientation Guide on October 31, 2011.

If Jon Huntsman has his way, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign will be like his position-changing: gone with the wind.

In an advertisement released by the Huntsman campaign on Monday, a weathervane is split-screened with a Mitt Romney who claims one thing, and immediately is shown to have changed positions in another appearance.

Huntsman’s ad comes amid scandal within Herman Cain’s campaign over sexual harassment. The former Utah governor is placing his campaign’s hopes in New Hampshire, where he stayed instead of participating in a debate in Nevada last week in a bid to show support of the Granite State’s position as “first in the nation.” Huntsman has continually struggled in the polls, garnering typically one to five percent in national polls.

What are you thoughts on the Huntsman ad?

President Obama received a clean bill of health from his physician on Monday, saying the President is “fit for fifty,” according to the White House.

“The President is in excellent health and ‘fit for duty.’ All clinical data indicate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency,” said Dr. Jeffrey C. Kuhlman, physician to the President in a memo to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

See the full report here.

Obama’s summary included medications he takes for strenuous exercise (anti-inflammatory medication) as well as various immunizations for international travel, including malaria prevention. The report also noted that Obama’s bottom lip – which was injured late last year – has largely healed.

Obama, according to Kuhlman, is also “tobacco-free.” Obama has struggled to kick his addiction to cigarettes for years and had been an issue on the campaign trail in 2007 and 2008. Obama follows fellow physically-fit commander-in-chief George W. Bush as an example of physical health prowess.

Bill Clinton, in turn, struggled with weight control during his presidency and had a number of heart-related scares since leaving the White House in 2001.

“Yes, We Cain” was not what two former staffers had in mind when working for Republican candidate Herman Cain in his previous capacity as chief executive officer of the National Restaurant Association.

Cain, 65, the Republican presidential frontrunner, is being accused to having “inappropriate sexual conduct” with two women who worked directly with Cain in the early 1990s when he was leading the National Restaurant Association. It was during this time when Cain had made national headlines in his rebuttal to President Bill Clinton in a nationally televised town hall over universal healthcare.

NBC News confirmed Monday afternoon that one woman received a cash settlement from the National Restaurant Association, in which Cain has denied knowledge of authorizing such a payment – which normally would be seen by either an organization’s chief executive or chief financial officer.

Cain spoke at the National Press Club in Washington today, directly responding to the charges brought again him.

“Number one – in all of my over 40 years of business experience … I have never sexually harassed anyone. Number two, while at the restaurant association, I was accused of sexual harassment. Falsely accused, I might add. I was falsely accused of sexual harassment, and when the charges were brought, as the leader of the organization, I recused myself and allowed my general counsel and human resource officer to handle it,” said Cain.

Mark Hamrick, the president of the National Press Club, asked Cain whether he thought another candidate was responsible for leaking the story. “I have no idea. We have no idea the source of this witch hunt, which is really what this is,” said Cain.

Cain is currently tying former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in national polls, but continues to trail in early primary states such as New Hampshire and Iowa. Cain’s campaign has yet to put together field operations in either of those two states and is reportedly focusing on a win in South Carolina, the South’s first primary, to solidify his candidacy in 2012.

The Albany Craft Beer Festival makes it’s return to the Washington Avenue Armory this Saturday, following up from the success from their inaugural May event.

The May event had reportedly over 800 attendees.

The festival – to take place Saturday, Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. – will feature approximately 100 beers from breweries across the country, including Troy-based Brown’s Brewing and Saratoga-based Olde Saratoga. Most of the beer presented at the event will be handled by Mechanicville-based DeCrescente Distributing Co., unless otherwise specified.

The location of the Washington Avenue Armory allows for the event to go on – rain or shine. Earlier this season, Oktoberfest (organized by Wolff’s Biergarten) and Pearlpalooza were affected by adverse weather conditions, which won’t be the case for the Craft Beer Festival.

The festival is run by Craftproducers, who “has been creating upscale and unique festivals in New York and New England for over 35 years. Craftproducers is a respected leader in the Art and Craft Festival market and is known for its high quality, innovative shows.”

Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 on the day of the event.

Listing of Breweries That Will Be Present:

Adirondack Brewery
Anchor Brewery
Blue Point
Brewery Ommegang
Brooklyn Brewery
Brown’s
Butternuts
Clown Shoes
Dogfish Head
Dundees Ales & Lagers
Firestone Walker
Harpoon
He’Brew
Ithaca Beer
Keegan
Lagunitas
Lake Placid
Lefthand
Long Trail
Olde Saratoga Brewery
Oskar Blues
Otter Creek
Palm Brewery
Peak Brewing Co
Pretty Things
Samuel Adams
Saranac Brewery
Sierra Nevada
Six Point
Sly Fox
Smuttynose
Southern Tier
St Bernardus
Stone
Three Heads
Wandering Star

The United States has cut off funding for the U.N. agency UNESCO over this morning’s vote to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the 195th member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s council, according to the Associated Press.

The funding – which accounts for 22 percent from the United States and three percent from Israel – represents close to $80 million in UNESCO’s annual budget.

U.S. legislation from the early 1990s calls for a complete cessation of U.S. funding of any U.N. agency that accepts the Palestinian government as a full member. The U.S. Department of State’s counsel has also stated in the past that there is no “gray area” in the law and no waiver – in which U.S. payment for 2011 and in the future will not be procured.

UNESCO is headquartered in France and is led by the U.S.-supported Irina Bokova. UNESCO provides funding and support to worldwide heritage sites that include Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.

In celebrity news, Kim Kardashian will be filing for divorce from her husband Kris Humphreys, citing “irreconcilable differences,” according to E! News.

Kardashian, 31, had been married to the New Jersey Nets star for just over three months. Their August 20, 2011 wedding reportedly cost nearly $20 million dollars – none of which was paid for by Kardashian or Humphreys.

The split was confirmed by television presenter Ryan Seacrest on Twitter. “Yes @kimkardashian is filing for divorce this morning,” said Seacrest this morning.

Kardashian is primarily known for the hit show, “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” and had been recently linked up with NFL player Reggie Bush and R&B singer Ray J. Kardashian is the daughter of the late Robert Kardashian, a member of O.J. Simpson’s legal “dream team.”

I figured for the return of “Libations” that we would take this little series on world tour… to Waterford and visit a bar I’ve wanted to visit solely on the power of it’s name: the Angry Penguin Tavern (3941 Broad Street, Waterford). With the winter storm having literally just made a cameo appearance on Saturday and largely gone on Sunday, a friend of mine and I made the trek from Albany to this former lock-driven village near the cross-section of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

One of the first things you notice is the sign that adorns the building of a fighting penguin, but what’s a bit confusing (at times, I may not be the brightest bulb for figuring out what door what) are the three doors in the front – we nearly went into the apartment section (center door). After figuring that the furthest right door was the correct entrance, we were ready to get ‘angry.’

This is the quintessential “town bar,” complete with a dining room that looks like it was purchased out of a mail-order catalog. One of the establishment’s owners, Sandy Wagner, served us our drinks. According to the Troy Record’s Danielle Sanzone, the Angry Penguin was almost dubbed the ‘Drunken Penguin’ before that idea got squashed by the State Liquor Authority. Nonetheless, a festive atmosphere and quaint space can most accurately describe this space.

The Angry Penguin has approximately a dozen beers on draft, including Arrogant Bastard, Otter Creek, and Southern Tier. Prices are affordable for the town folk and simple visitors like ourselves.

The overall assessment is for a town bar: this wins my kudos. Just recently, I had made a visit to Madison Brewing Co. in Bennington, Vt. and I just find that these types of bars are nearly as recession-proof as any establishment can be. If you’re making headway toward or passing through Waterford, do yourself a favor and make the visit.

Angry Penguin Tavern
Rating: Three 34 out of Five Pints
3941 Broad Street, Waterford (phone: 518-237-2829)
Facebook: Angry Penguin Tavern

The old expression “Time is money” was seldom truer than in the new movie “In Time”. Civilization has “evolved” to where people have been engineered to stop aging at 25. Then a clock in their arm, set at birth to one year, starts and they begin to live out the rest of their lives. The clock ticks down every second of a person’s life. When the clock reaches zero, they die. The currency of this world is also time. Prices are as simple as four minutes of life for a cup of coffee or as much as two months of life for a standard room for one night in a high end hotel. The workers in the slums and ghettos face increasing prices and low wages that literally keep them living day to day. Sleeping late can actually be fatal. The wealthy who have almost all the time in the world are practically immortal.

This is the world of Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a poor worker who seldom has more than a day on his clock. He saves the life of wealthy Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) from a gang known as Minutemen. The gang’s leader, Fortis (Alex Pettyfer), was about to “fight” Hamilton for his time when Salas intervenes. Later Hamilton, mentally worn out from living 175 years, gives Salas all but 5 minutes of his time with instructions not to waste it. Hamilton then goes out to a bridge to wait for his time to run out. Salas tries to stop what is about to happen. Seconds late, he is seen by a surveillance camera and viewed as a murderer.

So begins a life altering journey that leads to his mother Rachel (Olivia Wilde) dying in his arms, gambling with wealthy Phillipe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser), meeting Weis’s daughter Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), and eventually becoming an outlaw as he and Sylvia steal time from her father’s business. Pursued by the cop-like Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), it is a race against time to steal time to save the time needy and upset the time sensitive economy. Timely huh? Not so much.

Written, produced and directed by Andrew Niccol, “In Time” is poorly constructed leaving more questions than it answers. Time can be banked in electronic devices which means that time could be created like printing money although it appears the only way to accumulate a million years is to take time from (kill) more than a million people. The other Time Zones are never shown except for toll gates as borders are crossed to get from Time Zone 12, the ghetto of Dayton, to Time Zone 4, the wealthy area of New Greenwich. Though they are called Time Zones, District or Region would have been more appropriate. A world map in Weis’s office shows that world time zones exist making the regional time zones ambiguous.

Overall, a questionable movie that starts to fall apart after the first half hour. Once the slide begins Timberlake’s monotone acting style tends to drone. He keeps repeating “You can do a lot in one day”. Just think of the nap possibilities during the second half. One to skip. Questionable even to spend time on later when the DVD comes out.

Rated: PG-13  (1 hour 55 min) – Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox