Dom and Dummer

Today is the last day for UH students to voice their opinion by voting in the 1996 Students' Association election.

Any UH student who doesn't plan to vote should remember what we got by NOT voting last year.

Think about it: Last year, an infinitesimally small percentage of the UH student body turned out to vote. As a result, a group of SA senators were elected who spent the year huffing, puffing and posturing, while doing little for the student body except spend a chunk of our money on meaningless things like their $1,500 "inauguration" and $11,000 on state-of-the-art toys, er, computers.

SA will get $93,000 from UH students fees in the coming year. UH students should demand they get their money's worth from the new crop of SA politicos.

Each year, students elect SA officers who, in theory, should be representing the best interests of the student body. But what do they do? Not much, it seems.

Current SA bigwigs Giovanni Garibay and Dom Lewinsohn frequently sound more like public relations representatives of interim UH President Glenn Goerke than representatives of what is best for the student body.

They complain about anything bad The Daily Cougar prints because it "hurts the university's image" with Houston civic and business leaders.

What do they represent -- the image of the university or the best interests of the student body?

Why aren't they pounding on their desks during SA meetings demanding the administration take care of students' needs?

The Daily Cougar has been calling for fire and safety inspections of UH dormitories since October 1995. What position has SA taken? The answer: none. The subject never came up -- maybe because that's a bad subject.

When the UH System was going to spend several million dollars of Higher Education Assistance Funds, money earmarked for academic needs, on the Center for Public Broadcasting, UH faculty groups and The Daily Cougar strongly questioned that allocation. Where was SA? The answer: nowhere to be seen. They must have been afraid they might anger some of their new friends in the UH administration.

Now, the UH administration plans to extract an additional $11 million next year from students by raising the General Use Fee to $30 per semester credit hour from $12 per semester credit hour.

Where were Garibay and Lewinsohn Tuesday when the administration held a public forum on the "proposed" fee raise? Were they standing up to Provost Jack Ivancevich demanding that UH consider raising the fee in increments while cutting some of the fat in upper UH management? The answer: once again, nowhere to be seen.

The candidates for SA president in this election at least sound like they care about the students.

After the election, we'll get to see if it was just posturing, or if the new SA president will have more substance to his or her act than our current "representation."

Dom and Dummer

Today is the last day for UH students to voice their opinion by voting in the 1996 Students' Association election.

Any UH student who doesn't plan to vote should remember what we got by NOT voting last year.

Think about it: Last year, an infinitesimally small percentage of the UH student body turned out to vote. As a result, a group of SA senators were elected who spent the year huffing, puffing and posturing, while doing little for the student body except spend a chunk of our money on meaningless things like their $1,500 "inauguration" and $11,000 on state-of-the-art toys, er, computers.

SA will get $93,000 from UH students fees in the coming year. UH students should demand they get their money's worth from the new crop of SA politicos.

Each year, students elect SA officers who, in theory, should be representing the best interests of the student body. But what do they do? Not much, it seems.

Current SA bigwigs Giovanni Garibay and Dom Lewinsohn frequently sound more like public relations representatives of interim UH President Glenn Goerke than representatives of what is best for the student body.

They complain about anything bad The Daily Cougar prints because it "hurts the university's image" with Houston civic and business leaders.

What do they represent -- the image of the university or the best interests of the student body?

Why aren't they pounding on their desks during SA meetings demanding the administration take care of students' needs?

The Daily Cougar has been calling for fire and safety inspections of UH dormitories since October 1995. What position has SA taken? The answer: none. The subject never came up -- maybe because that's a bad subject.

When the UH System was going to spend several million dollars of Higher Education Assistance Funds, money earmarked for academic needs, on the Center for Public Broadcasting, UH faculty groups and The Daily Cougar strongly questioned that allocation. Where was SA? The answer: nowhere to be seen. They must have been afraid they might anger some of their new friends in the UH administration.

Now, the UH administration plans to extract an additional $11 million next year from students by raising the General Use Fee to $30 per semester credit hour from $12 per semester credit hour.

Where were Garibay and Lewinsohn Tuesday when the administration held a public forum on the "proposed" fee raise? Were they standing up to Provost Jack Ivancevich demanding that UH consider raising the fee in increments while cutting some of the fat in upper UH management? The answer: once again, nowhere to be seen.

The candidates for SA president in this election at least sound like they care about the students.

After the election, we'll get to see if it was just posturing, or if the new SA president will have more substance to his or her act than our current "representation."