Ben Stanley’s actions have demeaned the office of the ASNMU president, and he has demonstrated a lack of respect for policy and procedure. The students of Northern Michigan University deserve a president that represents them and gives voice to student concern.
Stanley’s latest scheme has been to attempt to create a non-voting position on the NMU Board of Trustees so that the ASNMU president can sit in on closed session meetings, a needless addition.
The ASNMU president already is allotted time to bring the concerns of the student body to the Board of Trustees. Obtaining a non-voting position for the ASNMU president is a waste of students’ time.
In Michigan, there is no other university that has a non-voting position for the president of the student government. Members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the governor, and it is highly unlikely that the state will create such a position for the ASNMU president.
Stanley could be devoting his effort elsewhere to better represent his constituents.
This is not the first time Stanley has made a mockery of NMU’s student government. On April 9, Stanley was jailed for contempt of court after he failed to appear at a court date on Oct. 27, 2011. This set the precedent for Stanley’s continued disrespect of authority.
He was then quoted by this newspaper as saying, “[The incident] helped because many did not know what ASNMU was until this [Stanley’s jailing] happened.” This kind of fallacious logic is unacceptable.
Students should become aware of student government not by the scandals of its members but for the virtue of its purpose, to bridge the gap between students and the university.
This is the kind of representation the students of NMU have been receiving by the ASNMU president. He has smeared previous presidents and shows no indication that he is working for the benefit of the students, but only the furthering of his own ego.
If ASNMU’s main emphasis is on communication then maybe that communication should be with the students that elected ASNMU board members and not with the Board of Trustees during closed-session meetings.
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NW Staff • Oct 17, 2012 at 6:25 pm
The North Wind has looked into your complaint about our Thursday Sept. 6 editorial “ASNMU President Disappoints,” and we have found that our information is factual after talking to both the student body presidents of Wayne State and Oakland University.
The quote in question was: “In Michigan, there is no other university that has a non-voting position for the president of the student government.”
The two universities that you cited were Wayne State University and Oakland University.
In fact, the student body president at Oakland and Wayne State University both do not have non-voting positions on their administrative boards.
Samantha Wols, student body president of Oakland University, stated that the president communicates student concerns to the Board of Trustees but does not have a position on the board, nor does she have non-voting rights.
Taz Ahmed, student body president of Wayne State University, stated that he does not have a position on the Board of Governors, nor does he have non-voting rights. While he said there is a liaison elected that communicates student concerns to the board, he does not enjoy non-voting rights either.
While we appreciate your concern over the factual correctness of the editorial in question, we do hope that this letter puts the matter to rest. Thank you for your time and concern.
Ben • Oct 15, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Bob, I would suggest you look up Oakland and Wayne state university. Perhaps you should look at Ohio universities, or Wisconsin universities, or most other states stances on having student representation at a higher level. I wrote an email to the editor, the writer of this article, and spoke in person with the adviser of the north wind sighting a letter from Lansing, proving the statements in this article to be false and they still refuse to write a retraction. There are only 15 public universities in Michigan, two of them already have this in place, NMU used to have this, and (at least) two other universities are trying to get this presently. I agree you are entitled to your own opinion, however when you pass on information as facts when they are in fact the opposite, it passes beyond opinions.
“People have rights but they also have responsibilities”; A wise man once passed on this wisdom to me.
Bob • Sep 7, 2012 at 7:28 pm
I looked through most of Michigan’s state universities and NONE has a student on their Board of Trustees or Regents. Is there a reason there should be? I doubt it. I think a recall election on Mr. Stanley would be in order.