“Bad things happen when you mess with MUSG.” Those are the words that Abe Matthew said to a Tribune reporter on November 15, 2008. The next two weeks preceding his removal from office, he was under constant fire from fellow Senate members as well as the general MU student body. What was missing from all of this criticism was Matthew’s voice.
One of the biggest omissions in Matthew’s story was that the Tribune reporter that he indirectly threatened was an acquaintance that he had known for five years, beginning in high school. After the incident, Matthew even apologized before he knew that the incident was reported. “I felt comfortable making a joke to him… it got blown way out of proportion. I guess you can’t bring the organizations into it.”
Matthew asserts that while in office, he was one of the most transparent and open people in student government. “After meetings I would come up to the reporters and actually talked to them.” He also notes that he was against the Communications policy that MUSG put in place which says that Senators are supposed to refer all questions directed toward them to the Communications Department of MUSG, thus taking away any non-organization sanctioned comments in the student news. “If you take my words literally and [interpret] them as a threat, then you are neglecting my actions,” Matthews said.
According to Matthew “an implicit threat does not merit removal. I think that was an overreaction.” However, he was not pleased with the other alternative given to him, an unpaid three week suspension. Although he accepted the suspension, Matthew believes that a more appropriate response would be a strong verbal reprimand, which he got from many of the Senators. “I was surprised that [the reporter] even reported it. I apologized.” Looking back, he “would have been adamant from day one that this was an overreaction. I tried to play ball but it just got me deep in the hole. I don’t think that I adequately defended myself.”
Now that Matthew has been removed as Legislative Vice President of the Senate, Jason Rae has taken over that position. Expect a big difference in style between the two leaders. Matthew hopes that the Senate continues to increase its visibility in its role acting as a liaison between students and faculty and hopes that Rae will take an aggressive stance on issues concerning the student body.
Since he is no longer a part of MUSG, Matthew won’t be able to propose legislation regarding a huge issue he had hoped to address during the second semester – the program board. “Fifty five percent of the budget is allocated to programs that few students take advantage of… the benefits do not equal the cost.” His suggestion? “Cut the Program Board.” Matthew acknowledges that some students do derive benefits and that they still should be catered to, but the sheer amount of money hemorrhaged into a system for a select few is not the way to go.
Another issue Matthew hopes the Senate will tackle is election reform. The rules of the election need to be brought into the twenty first century. “Candidates should be allowed to text people… Today that’s an acceptable form of communication.” Along with election communication, Matthew hopes that a primary debate will be introduced in hopes of getting third parties noticed across campus and passed through the primary elections.
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