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EDITORIAL: Senate should approve textbook program, evaluate future funding allotment

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The CSUN Senate will hear a bill Monday that comes at the perfect time. Never before have more students needed financial support to be successful in college and student representatives would do well to reflect on the economic pressures many face and pass the legislation.

The bill would allot $5,500 to a new textbook assistance program that would lighten the financial load of many students taking general education courses. The program would allow students to use CSUN-owned texts for many common courses, making the economic struggle of beginning college or returning to school much more manageable.

With job prospects looking more bleak in Southern Nevada than almost anywhere in the country, UNLV has seen an increase in enrollment. At the start of this semester, 28,605 students were enrolled at UNLV — up 2.5 percent from the last two years.

We support any action that could help keep the growing number of people returning to school because of struggles in the job market from facing huge expenses at the outset of their education at UNLV.

Compared to the money students stand to save with this program, the amount CSUN would be spending is almost negligible. The undergraduate student government routinely spends two and three times the cost of starting the textbook assistance program on items that benefit fewer students than this endeavor. Certainly the Senate should see fit to designate a mere $5,500 to this noble cause.

Let’s consider this project in light of CSUN’s recent history of funding choices.
Many times student government has looked into using funds toward campus programs similar to this textbook program, that benefit students very directly, but sometimes they have decided the benefits are not worth the costs.

Consider the difference in treatment of potentially valuable assets like the regularly distributed emergency scholarships and the recently voted-down Health Assistance Grant, which would have allowed students up to $1,500 to cover the costs of examinations and procedures done within the Wellness Center or medical clinics.

CSUN has provided funds toward events that bring speakers and entertainers to campus — this semester, we’ve seen PostSecret’s Frank Warren and comedian Eric O’Shea, for example. Last semester, CSUN helped fund a psychology event that brought famed psychology researcher Philip Zimbardo to UNLV. Speakers like Zimbardo are a dual benefit to students, as they also promote the academic atmosphere of the university.

Other events are more geared toward entertaining the campus community, also a much-needed service. Funding events like this is important as well, as they certainly grow the culture around campus and provide a much-needed rounding out of the college for many students.

Last semester, CSUN funded the installation of safer crosswalk signs on Maryland Parkway.

Should CSUN emphasize funding more toward one area than the other? Is there even an imbalance between the allotment of these funds or are the student government’s priorities just right?

You already know that we favor the proposed textbook program — how would you like to see your fees used?

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EDITORIAL: Thoughts on the Senate president

The Constitution does not guarantee freedom of the press because the founding fathers were anxious for a bit of salacious gossip. The press exists to protect the people we serve by requiring transparency and accountability in our government.

Unfortunately, some of UNLV’s undergraduate student representatives either do not understand the importance of free press or think they are above it.

We place great value on establishing confidence among members of student government, but with the institution of its newest Senate president Victor Barragan, we have witnessed a troubling inverse relationship between questionable activity in CSUN and the willingness of members to speak out.

Despite Barragan’s outspoken criticism of his predecessor both before winning the spring election and after accepting the position of Senate president, he has led the body of representatives down a dangerous path in his first few months of office, marking a steep decline from the former, albeit imperfect, status quo.

Senate meetings under Barragan’s leadership are too often fraught with confusion and petty arguments over the counting of votes — Barragan’s responsibility. Meanwhile, minutes required by Nevada Open Meeting Law have gone missing under his watch.

The brash, impetuous and even sarcastic manner with which Barragan seems to terrorize the members of his assembly during meetings is unprofessional and unnecessary. Furthermore, it directly handicaps a healthy relationship between senators and the press.

In our page one story “CSUN divided,” we have chosen to protect the identity of a source affiliated with CSUN because we deemed Barragan’s trend of divisiveness and backbiting to be a threat to the safety of the source’s position in student government.

No other source that we know to have a direct knowledge of the issues threatening CSUN unity would agree to speak with us about the unanswered questions regarding Barragan’s performance, for fear of backlash.
This is not a healthy relationship, nor one that can serve students well.

Not only has Barragan actively defeated many Senators’ good relationships with the press by effectively blackmailing them to prevent their telling The Rebel Yell details of CSUN operations, he has mindlessly attempted to violate the legal relationship between government and the media.

When student body president Adam Cronis submitted a letter to the editor of The Rebel Yell, prefaced with a clear explanation that his statements were made in his capacity as a student, not as a member of student government, Barragan found out and showed up in our office to tell us not to run the letter.

We explained that by law no government, student or otherwise, may exercise censorship over the content of a newspaper and that editorial decisions rest solely with our editor-in-chief. Still, after we printed the letter in the July 13 issue of The Rebel Yell, Barragan alleged that we had betrayed his “instruction” and shown favoritism toward Cronis.

We had not. We remained completely impartial and still do. We did not follow Barragan’s advice because if we had, we would be guilty of succumbing to illegal censorship.

He has even frequently pressured Yell reporters to portray him flatteringly and harasses management with concerns over whether editors have “correct” information.

Barragan’s irrational notion that his opinion should hold any sway with the student press rose to almost comical proportions when on Aug. 26, he asked a reporter if he could borrow their recording of a Senate meeting, saying he had lost the minutes.

Whether he sees himself as having some kind of administrative authority over this newspaper and thought we were obliged to help him out if he violated Open Meeting Law, or whether he thinks he is somehow above our ethical obligation to objectivity, we can’t tell.

But one thing we do know is that the CSUN Senate is being run by a misinformed egoist who is making a mockery of student government and trying to run roughshod over the institution of free press.
We won’t stand for it, and we hope the Senate won’t either.

CSUN rejects health care bill

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CSUN divided

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Cronis gives state address

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