Fascism has taken root at Rock Valley College, in Rockford, IL. I am not exaggerating. Allow me to explain...
At the end of the fall semester, the administration wanted to build a computer lab and IT office in the offices that Student Commission (the student government at Rock Valley College) was occupying and, which, according to the blueprints for the Student Centre (the building in which these offices are located), was intended for Student Commission. During the course of Commission's fight with the administration to keep their space, the administration lied to Commission several times. Here is a list of their lies:
- The space that Commission had occupied at that time was never intended for Commission. Instead, it was meant to be a quiet study lounge, but Commission took it over for their offices
This is utterly preposterous. First of all, there is a door in the back of this "lounge" that is labeled "Student Commission Officers". Secondly, the room and door are clearly labeled "Student Commission". Plus, according to the blueprints that the then-Secretary of Student Commission found from when the Student Centre was being remodeled, that space WAS intended to be Commission office space.
- If Commission allowed four or five computers to be placed in their space, as a "Leadership Resource Centre", they would be allowed to draft a set of rules for the use of those computers.
We allowed them to place five computers in our space, and, when we submitted a set of rules, which included time limits, limits on Internet sites that could be visited (no
MySpace or
Facebook, since they had nothing to do with encouraging student leadership), rules on noise, and rules regarding how many people at a computer, as well as a rule stating that Commission work took precedence when it came to computer use, since the representatives on Commission often had work that they needed a computer to get done, and they shouldn't have to pay for printouts if it is for Commission, we were told that the rules were "too repressive", and that they could not be implemented because of the college's IT policy.
- Placing the computers in Commission's space would eliminate the crowding in the Student Centre, and help reduce the level of noise.
Previous to this, the computers were in front of a couple of offices for administrators in the Department of Student Life, and they were in the middle of the Student Centre, off to the sides of the main causeway through the building. Moving the computers just meant that what had been our space got more crowded and noisy, to the point where officers had a hard time concentrating on the work they had to do.
- This "Leadership Resource Centre" would be a great way for Commission to reach out to other students and to groom other student leaders by holding leadership workshops.
We lost control of that room. There is no way we could hold a leadership workshop in there without cutting off access to the computers in there. Plus, none of the students who use those computers are interested in being student leaders.
So, anyhow, like I said before, we gave up control of that space, but kept the offices that the officers occupied. We gave up all the furniture that we had purchased, along with a computer that we had also purchased.
So, this semester started, and the administration, without consulting Commission at all, implemented several policy changes that affected the powers that the student body wielded through Commission. First of all, they eliminated the Second Vice President of Student Activities' responsibilities for approving activities. Those must be approved through the office of the Manager of Student Life.
Then they changed the way that the money collected from the Student Activity Fee was allocated. Instead of the Student Commission Treasurer being in charge of the Budget Committee, and the Budget Committee being open to all students, who all had voting powers, the money is going to be allocated by a committee consisting of the Treasurer of Student Commission (and there is no treasurer... I'll get to that in a moment) and the Student Trustee as "co-chairs" (they are really only figureheads, though, as they have no voting powers whatsoever). There will be two students appointed by the administration, and then three faculty and staff from three different Shared Governance committees. The Manager of Student Life (Quiana Preston, who, in previous years, was only the advisor to the Budget Committee) will also have a vote. There is one ex-officio position, and that is for the budget guru of the college, who only serves to advise the committee, and the Director of Activities and Outreach (Adam Smith is his name) serves as the advisor with the tie-breaking vote (which makes him the chairman).
When the fact that the way this committee was going to be run violated Robert's Rules of Order, Adam Smith replied, "Who is this Robert? I don't know any Robert. We'll be operating under Adam's rules." The Student Commission constitution and bylaws say otherwise. They say that all Student Commission meetings and Student Commission Committee meetings must be conducted according to Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised. The constitution also says that only the Treasurer can serve as the chairman of the Budget Committee. The fact of the matter is this: The students pay the activity fee. Faculty and staff do not. They have no business deciding how that money is going to be spent, especially since they are going to divert a significant amount into their own budget (for the Student Life department). Adam Smith talked a great deal about empowering the students and enfranchising them. Personally, I don't see how you are empowering or enfranchising them when you reduce their power to decide how their money is spent.
All the while, the Treasurer of Student Commission ("Michael O'Neill", for the purposes of this rant. That's not his real name), as well as the Secretary ("Bill Schultz"), and the Second Vice President of Student Activities ("Rick Miller") all expressed anger and frustration at the lack of consultation, as well as extreme opposition to at least the new policy concerning the budget. These three represented the majority of Commission members, as they had majority control of Commission. So, instead of working with these three officers to work out an amicable compromise, what did the administration do? They cited provisions in the Student Commission constitution that only applied to elected officers (they had been appointed to serve the remainder of the terms of office of the elected officers, who had resigned), dealing with GPA, accumulated credits, and required number of credits that must be taken each semester. They denied these three people the right to have their case heard by Commission, which is guaranteed by the Student Commission constitution, and, in doing so, violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. And you know what the real hypocritical part is? They spent all this month celebrating civil rights, while denying the civil rights of those who exercised their First Amendment rights of free speech.
Almost immediately after they ousted the three officers, they then coerced Commission into dissolving by telling them that, if they did not, they would not get to determine the future of student government at Rock Valley College. So right now, the students at Rock Valley College have no one to represent them to the administration. I am convinced that they did this to make sure that Commission would dissolve itself, because these three people were the ones who led the majority party on Commission. If these three people opposed something, then over 2/3 of Commission would also oppose it.
In response to the elimination of democracy on campus at Rock Valley College, I am forming a club on campus called "Students for a Democratic Society". Will I get many people to join? Probably not. Why? Because most students at Rock Valley College just don't give a shit. But some will. And I am confident that we can raise our voices loud enough to overcome the silence of the other students. I'm sure that students will be appalled to find out just how fascist Rock Valley College has become, and I'm sure that they will want to return to democracy.
