ASUA's recent actions with respect to BGALA and ASD are 'puzzling'

OK, I admit that I was never all that talented with the Rubik's Cube. So it is quite possibly my own fault that I found the details of the recent headline story ("Senate cuts ASD ... ") a bit puzzling. Let me tell you how I've got it figured and then we can go from there.

According to the article, the Undergraduate Senate voted to eliminate the Association of Students with Disabilities from ASUA programs and services, citing a lack of activity in the last year. Good so far?

The article then discusses the turbulence experienced by members of ASD this past year with the contested appointment of their director by the vice president of programs and services. ASD members state that their "active participation" was expressed in a boycott because the appointed director had no prior experience with ASD. Nonetheless, she received a $500 stipend for her efforts and ASD received a dissenting vote for annual funding.

During the same Senate meeting the voice of BGALA was recognized and the organization received "programs and services" status. Senators acted in what seems a justifiable fashion, stating that BGALA serves the community via awareness programs. I may be hopelessly obtuse, but it is my understanding that ASD members forwarded this same position.

All right then, the only difference between one group funded and one group not funded was ... Oh geez ... I am getting stuck again. I don't want to say that the Senate engaged in any form of intentional impropriety. I do no want to say that ASD members are apparently being accused of (and perhaps, punished for) some form of apathy. I may be a half bubble off plumb, but wasn't it their heightened concern that led them to avoid an organization that actually meant a lot to them?

Here's the most troubling part of the puzzle: ASD called it a boycott ... Sen. Lauren Sliger now calls it "precedent." This is where I start to think maybe somebody is hiding the last piece.

By Mike Peters (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 23, 1997