The Badger Herald has recently printed a number of articles in the Opinion and News sections attacking the For Accessibility, Community and Empowerment of Students (FACES) slate. In the interest of accuracy and even-handedness, it is important that students also receive the perspective of an actual member of the slate, which should provide a very different view of our campaign tactics and ultimate goals.
In what must have been some of the most biased reporting in recent campus history, the Herald has taken to printing a number of articles this week detailing alleged unethical behavior by the slate to promote its candidates. Although the reporting was unable to find a single example of activity that violates ASM bylaws, the Herald nonetheless printed two front-page stories effectively smearing the entire slate as shady and power-hungry. These days, it seems the Herald is about as concerned with journalistic integrity as its counterparts at Fox News.
In one of the stories, the reporter printed allegations of how the slate received a “benefit” from the use of ASM resources — a violation of the organization’s bylaws. In truth, one member of the slate used a laptop — unaware it was an ASM computer — to merely download a single flyer for a fundraising event. The flyer was ultimately never printed or used. The petitioners of the complaint quickly acknowledged that a mistake had been made and withdrew their case within hours of filing it.
The Herald also printed a story yesterday about the “controversial” fundraising tactics of the slate. Apparently, it is “controversial” to serve alcohol to students over 21 at a Saturday night party. For the same reporter, it is also “controversial” to solicit small campaign contributions for printing flyers from professors and unionized university employees who agree with the progressive values of the slate. In the real world in which most students live, most are probably wondering why this is even a story at all.
Rather than engaging in sensational journalism that casts doubt on the otherwise mostly good reporting of this paper, perhaps the Herald should have written more about actual issues instead of pseudo-controversies. Most students probably care more about the major issues facing the university — lack of state funding, tuition hikes, failed diversity benchmarks, a woeful campus climate — and how the current ASM candidates plan to address such matters, matters of actual substance.
The paper has also printed a number of articles in the Opinion section attacking the platform and strategy of FACES candidates. These types of attacks are not new and should be expected from regular readers of this paper. Rather than addressing each instance of misinformation, I encourage readers to look at the entire platform of the slate, which can be found at www.takebackasm.blogspot.com.
The FACES slate is determined to address the issues most pressing to students, including the skyrocketing cost of education, issues of sexual harassment, environmental responsibility, campus inclusivity, student power and many others. We recognize that making progress on these issues requires the grassroots involvement of as many students as possible, which is why we are committed to remaking ASM into a bottom-up student government unafraid to challenge powerful interests on behalf of those this university is supposed to serve. We have seen the alternative approach as it exists in the current ASM, so we all know that major change is needed. FACES is that change.
This positive message of reform has not been welcome by advocates of the reactionary status quo, including this paper — the same paper that endorsed the unpopular ASM constitution and regularly attacks the efforts of those fighting for student empowerment, social justice and grassroots democracy. FACES encourages students who have not yet voted to reject the Herald’s antics and cast a ballot for the type of change ASM so desperately needs.
Adam Breihan
UW junior
FACES candidate for SSFC
