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Welcome, reader, to the return of the Minuteman.
Much has changed at UMass in the last few years: the Chancellor has been three different men, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life and the bane of Campus Liberals (and therefore a friend to the UMass Republican Club) Mike Gargano followed former Chancellor John V. Lombardi to LSU, and the campus has transformed from virulently anti-Bush territory to pom-poms and roses for Obama terrain and indeed further change looms: state-mandated budget cuts are prospectively forcing unprecedented academic reorganization. In this latter respect, both this paper and the paper's independently functioning ally -- the UMass Republican Club -- sympathize with our fellow UMass students; struggling to maintain financial solvency in steadily worsening economic times while battling through college on the path to a Bachelor's degree and through tumult on the path to adulthood can be daunting for the independent-minded twenty-something, and we understand that.
Yet, while the undercurrents of change have and will undoubtedly continue to alter the outward appearance of UMass Amherst, so much -- indeed far too much – about our school's student life character remains infuriatingly static. Three of the many UMass constants with which I have significant disagreement are as follows: First, the third-world-country-heavy SGA continues to act in the sole and narrow interest of its leaders and pet causes célèbre, to the detriment of enduring campus issues (like potholes, rising fees, and the effective, efficient and balanced allocation of Student Activity Trust Fund (SATF) money) and the betterment of the student body at-large. Never was this more clear than when Justice for Jason organizer and SGA groupie Danny "The Tranny" Keefe (see picture) boldly kicked student Dmitriy Shapiro out of the SGA office in early February while proclaiming that Republican Club members possess no right to tread out on the hallowed ground of the SGA office. Dan's gender may be questionable but the wanton fiat he leveled against Shapiro was unquestionably flawed and egregiously out of touch with the needs and interests of students.
Second, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian continues to refuse to hold the SGA to account, as evidenced, most glaringly and most recently, by its softball coverage of the SGA-orchestrated Justice for Jason sham, with which this paper will grapple aggressively. So much about this story -- from J4J's legally questionable fundraising techniques and payments to Jason Vassell's law firm to the administratively curious means by which the group is operating at all -- stinks of corruption and wrongdoing and is begging for a thorough journalistic probe. More often than not, the Collegian has not demonstrated the will to provide such a needed investigation. Nevertheless, despite its inability or unwillingness to successfully confront the SGA and its pet agencies, the paper, one for which I have written opinion columns extensively in the past, remains so badly needed on campus and highly effective overall. The Collegian possesses a wealth of talented writers and editors who have and will surely continue to make this school proud, among them the eminent Sean Sullivan, Will McGuiness, Kate Olesin, and Joe Meloni. Both this paper and the UMass Republican Club remain deeply appreciative of its efforts and its hard-working staff. I hope, however, that if the SGA continues to run amok over the interests of the very students for which it is charged with advocating, that the Collegian will put as much time and energy into holding it to account as it does glorifying its faux activism victories.
Thirdly, the overwhelmingly orthodox, fear-inducing, truth-denying, freedom-hating, rights-restricting, United States-cursing Leftism. Now, I understand that Amherst and leftism go together like Barack and empty promise, like liberal and government dependence, but the intellectually suffocating and conformist leftism so present on our campus is way over the top, and that, more than anything else is, what inspires, energizes, and motivates to action the UMass Republican Club, a passionate RSO for which I proudly serve as Vice President.
This Club is an understated and often misunderstood RSO where, dare I say, some "rational" and "patriotic" students go on Tuesday nights at 7pm to 423B Student Union to find, among other things, political and social expression, supportive friends and colleagues, a reality-based overview of campus events, and the chance to help plan and contribute to a wide-ranging assortment of campus activities and events, always sufficient enough to keep the daunted Campus Left angry and discombobulated.
I venture to say that, especially this year under the impressive leadership of the gentlemanly Greg Collins, there is a not a tighter-knit and more cohesive RSO on campus. And our manifold awards and letters of recognition from local and national organizations bear that out. Cultivating a family atmosphere within an RSO representative of an arguably tiny minority political view on campus is not easy -- personalities can and do clash and intellectual and the political diversity on which the Club prides itself can sometimes be a cause for consternation and discord; the campus (and the Collegian) no doubt remembers my often internally tumultuous tenure as president in 2007-2008, but Mr. Collins has led us with stirring passion and refreshing compassion, his trademark wit and the necessary amount of humor and light-heartedness.
This semester promises, once again, to be a very busy one for the Club: today, 17 February 2009, we will host conservative talk radio host Michael Graham at 7pm in campus center 162-175 as part of our food-intensive Spring Semester Kickoff Meeting; on 11 March at 7pm in the Cape Cold Lounge we will host Conservative Author Don Feder for a lecture on the Left's favorite topic, Hate Crimes; on 16 April in a room TBD we will, enthusiastically, host former Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci for a lecture on state politics and education policy, and last, but certainly not least, on 30 April we will host, right there on that hallowed turf known as the Socialist Organization Office (SGA), Campus favorite (remember Nov. 2006) and hilarious conservative commentator, author, professor of Criminology, and vicious hater of all things liberal, the illustrious Mike S. Adams. He's a conservative's conservative in the mold of Reagan and Limbaugh, and he will turn this campus upside down in late April when he ferociously speaks out on God, Guns, Gays, and Abortion. Be sure to stay tuned.
And be sure to give a second look to the Republican Club when you see us tabling in the campus center, rallying on the student union steps, or causing a ruckus at one of our lectures. We take what we do -- conservative activism and holding the Campus Left to account --very seriously.
And while you won't hear us apologize if our like-minded speakers offend your intellectual sensibilities, you also won't be disrespectfully dismissed from our office should you stop by. And indeed you should, if for no other reason than to laugh at the Leftist -- produced lunacy that reliably occurs in the SGA office across the hall and continues to define, to our dismay , and to shamefully worsening standards, our beloved University.
The UMass Republican Club Meets in 423B Student Union at 7pm on Tuesdays, and, despite reports to the contrary, does not sacrifice to President Greg Collins the tiny defenseless children of leftist Professors. Anymore. We've run out.
Brad DeFlumeri is the Managing Editor of the Minuteman and his comments on gender do not necessarily reflect the views of the UMass Republican Club
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