Today the Red and Black printed an article that unmasked myself as the creator and editor of this site. First and foremost, I want to emphasize that I did everything on this site myself. No one else had a hand in anything you see or read.
So several members of our wonderful SGA owe an apology to a couple of individuals, since they were pegged early on as the “leaks” (falsely) and were treated roughly and unfairly by the current administration.
I made this website in the hopes of bringing light to the wrongs within the UGA Student Government Association. A lot goes on within SGA that many people have no clue about, and I seek to shed some light on much of the back room BS that goes on with SGA.
Some within SGA have accused me of making this site because I was upset I lost in the last election. To the contrary, I ran for Vice President, but after losing, I dropped my qualms with the winners and joined their administration to help students. I took part in this administration as Finance Director, from which I recently resigned.
Another myth I would like to bust right now is that my resignation as Finance Director was somehow related to this website. I resigned as Finance Director, ironically, only hours before I was given an ultimatum by Senator Brian Dunn to shut down this site, but for separate reasons.
I resigned as Finance Director because of the problems within the SGA administration regarding their expenditures. You see, last year, the SGA overspent its budget, and this term they had to make up for it. You’d think after a boneheaded mistake like that, they would learn and correct the problem.
But to this day, SGA does not have an active balance sheet, a record of their current cash-on-hand. I worked as Finance Director to aggregate this, but after months of dedicated work, realized that the members of SGA who spend our money mercilessly have no respect for the money or us students.
I resigned because I do not want to be responsible when the same mistake happens again, and the next SGA administration gets shorted on their budget.
One last lie to debunk – thank you, Jamie and Matt, for the ASSumption – is that I have no plans to run for any office during the next election. I have been contacted about working to abolish SGA, but I have made no decision whether or not to assist.
In the end, I think it is up to the readers to decide whether I have accomplished my mission to inform the students. You may disagree with the manner in which I gained notoriety, but I have no regrets. I have brought attention to how the SGA does its business (very secretly), and for that I am glad.
And for everyone new to the site, feel free to browse the archives, subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up-to-date, comment on any of the posts, or leave me a message. Thanks, and don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere!
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Hi Chris, this is Cain Harrelson (former SGA executive board member and current interested onlooker). I’m enjoying your site safely from the confines of a library in Oxford, England, so I won’t hide behind anonymous comments. Instead, I’ll try to offer some opinions about your work from the perspective of a former member of the organization’s leadership who recognized both during and after my terms that SGA needed some work.
First, I commend the current administration for distributing a report about its activities. Previous administrations have failed to attempt anything so bold, and the fact that it was sent out to the student body at-large is impressive. You (and your commenters) say that no one read the email. I’d identify that as a problem with student apathy, not SGA’s accountability. When I was Freshman Board President and later a Senator and Student Life Committee Chair, I submitted thorough weekly reports to both administrations under whom I worked. None of them were ever published for the student body (despite my multiple pushes to do so), so an open-access SGA Report is a fabulous attempt at accountability. Baby steps may not be good enough for you, but I think many of us appreciate them.
Second, elections are partly regulated by SGA and partly regulated by the University administration. Everything that occurs on OASIS is out of the hands of SGA leadership. Issues with scrolling, saving votes, etc. are problems with technology. Thus, SGA elections are just as frustrating as say… registering for classes with an archaic system? When I was around for two years, we constantly looked for solutions to the problems associated with SGA elections, but they all either had problems with legitimacy, accessibility, or feasibility. If you’ve got any better ideas, I’m sure people would love to hear them (both SGA members and folks in the VP of Student Affair’s Office).
Third, you suggest that Jamie Peper hand-selected her successor. It is precedent for the SGA President to select an Elections Chair who is apolitical and not directly involved with any of the potential candidates. This year, Jamarl Glenn is the Elections Chair. I don’t think Jamarl ran with the Golden Ticket, did he? Perhaps my memory fails me, but I think Jamie’s choice is one that will ensure fairness. Jamarl has not only been around SGA for a long time, but he’s never been afraid to speak up when things aren’t happening fairly.
Fourth, you claim that SGA elections are a waste of time and are annoying to the campus. I remember an incredibly annoying Black Tie campaign that was launched around this time last year. Your attempts failed just as much as mine did to motivate students to participate in the process (actually, the year I ran 2,000 more people voted… but who’s counting?), so who’s to blame? I’m afraid it’s difficult for anyone NOT to wonder if this website is just a sour attempt to win back some of that lost pride? You claim that it’s not, but I’ll be curious to see if your tone changes now that your identity is “uncovered.”
Fifth, the fact that you posted information about a possible SGA campaign is the biggest election rules violation that’s been committed in this upcoming election cycle. Katie and Ali have done nothing to violate the rules based on the information you’ve published here. They didn’t announce their campaign, YOU DID. Now I’m not sure if we can give the Hatin’ SGA website any sanctions… but it sure deserves some, I’d say.
Finally, your postings of members outside of SGA activities are nothing more than spiteful and childish. Members of SGA leadership are STUDENTS. As much time as they sacrifice attempting to do the best job they can for students, they deserve to spend their free time doing whatever they please without being subjected to Web scrutiny for their outside “hobbies” (be it underage drinking, posing for pictures in bathrobes, etc.). If drinking and having fun as a 20-something college student makes someone a poor leader, then I think we’d be hard-pressed to find many good leaders anywhere on our campus… or country.
Chris, I think that this website could be a noble attempt at holding SGA accountable. But your pettiness and personal attacks make it lack credibility. It’s funny, yes. It’s interesting, yes. But does it get at the heart of what SGA does or doesn’t do? Not at all. I’d reconsider your motives a little, and perhaps more people will pay attention for genuine reasons (rather than just to see repostings of malicious facebook pictures). You’ve got an excellent opportunity to get people talking about SGA reform, but you’re blowing it by lowering yourself to the quality of a high school slander campaign.
My challenge to you: in an upcoming post, let’s look for some solutions to the problems associated with SGA and our campus as a whole. The current administration has a few solid months to clean up their act and leave their posts with pride. A good critic can point out the flaws of their target, but a great critic knows how to fix those flaws. I’ll be following closely to see if you’ve got anything more to offer than slander.
Cain
Long before all this website mess arose I was wary of SGA. They seemed to me to be one of the least important and yet most self-important groups on campus. As a first-year, I had several friends who applied to be on Freshman Board or joined SGA directly. Every story I heard from them sounded like SGA dripped with disdain for, well, everyone. It seems to be fitting that these supposedly accountable, credible, and communicative representatives are terribly unfit for the positions to which they so condescendingly cling. I’m not saying there aren’t people in SGA who sincerely want to help students. I am saying I feel strongly that SGA does not act as an effective representative body for the student body of UGA.
Thank you for staying online and keeping SGA accountable. After all, accountability is their first pillar. I do think you now have a responsibility to actively encourage people to vote, be it to dissolve SGA or reform it.
Just curious Cain. Are you suggesting that it is OK for those under 21 (especially the leadership in SGA) to engage in underage drinking? Section 3 (a) of Article VII of the SGA Constitution states that “Any Officer may be removed from office for violation of this Constitution, the University Code of Conduct, or any University policy.” In the University of Georgia Code of Conduct, Article V Section IV states that “Georgia law prohibits possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under the legal drinking age and prohibits making alcoholic beverages available to persons under the legal drinking age.” I just wanted to clarify your statement below.
“As much time as they [members of the SGA leadership] sacrifice attempting to do the best job they can for students, they deserve to spend their free time doing whatever they please without being subjected to Web scrutiny for their outside “hobbies” (be it underage drinking, posing for pictures in bathrobes, etc.). If drinking and having fun as a 20-something college student makes someone a poor leader, then I think we’d be hard-pressed to find many good leaders anywhere on our campus… or country.”
I really hope you’re not advocating any action in violation of a law, albeit a university, city, state, or federal law.
Elizabeth Grizzard
Get a life, Elizabeth. This is just about the only country in the world where an 18 year old cannot legally drink. Just because someone has the cajones to have a beer in disregard to uncle sam, you find yourself morally superior? Go find a lectern and spout pretentiouness somewhere else, I’ll gladly keep my 3.9 with booze.
I’m certainly not advocating underage drinking. But, I do believe in allowing student leaders to have private lives. What they choose to do when they’re not fulfilling SGA duties is their own business so long as it does not interfere with their ability to complete the tasks they’ve been elected to do. Honestly, I don’t CARE what they do (well, to a certain degree) as long as they’re working hard for us. And I know that when I was in office (and when you were around, too, Elizabeth) that the majority of us worked our asses off… trying to make a difference. Whether or not they’re carrying around fake IDs or smuggling Bud Light into Russell Hall really makes no difference to me. I think we’d actually find that the same goes on in organizations like Judiciary, Baptist Student Union, etc. This doesn’t make underage drinking OK; it just means it’s a campus-wide problem not isolated to SGA. This website is called “Hatin’ SGA” – it should hold representatives accountable for their actions in OFFICE, not downtown. Otherwise, let’s call it Tattletale.com.
I’m not implying that it’s only SGA members who underage drink. I’m well aware that it happens in various organizations, dorms, etc. Cain, you’re absolutely right. People can have private lives. I can’t do anything to control what people do in the privacy of their own room or in the company of their friends, and I’m not sure I would want to. I would just hope that those in leadership positions show discretion when participating in an illegal activity, if that’s what they choose to do. There are consequences for every action, lawful or not. Whether you, the anonymous response above you, or I believe that the law on underage drinking is ridiculous is another issue entirely. I’m not stating my opinion on it. I’m just making the point that it’s there. And by no means am I putting myself on a moral pedestal. Nowhere in my response did I mention myself, my practices, or my superiority. Most of my post was made up of quotes from University and SGA Codes, not my own preaching. I don’t make that stuff up. Clarification is not such a bad thing. Mr. or Mrs. “3.9 with booze” should know that. He or she should also know that I can have a life without alcohol, just as he or she can do so with alcohol. Do not put words in my mouth.
I’m also not suggesting that SGA hasn’t worked their asses off. Cain, you’re right again. When I was there, there were a lot of people in SGA who put an enormous amount of effort into what they were doing, and I commend them for that. But it certainly wasn’t across the board. My issue with SGA lies elsewhere.
I read the article on Friday and I was just wondering something. Let me first say props on the site. SGA needs someone to watch it. At the same time I was trying to figure out if your job was finance director then how can you say all the stuff about SGA’s finances. Wasn’t your job supposed to be making sure that SGA had an active spending record? No offense, but I was just curious how you can say all that if it was your job to oversee it.
Sincerely,
Aaron
Ha ha. Sounds like someone is a little jealous that they didn’t get to be president. It’s ok though… It’s true that if the Golden Ticket had lost and if you and Noah had won, all the problems on campus would be magically better. Football tickets would fall from the sky and every student would get a bulldog puppy as well! Damn Jamie and Matt!! I want my bulldog puppy! Viva la revolucion! (sp?)
Sailor joe
So let me get this straight: If you criticize SGA, the SGA people tell you (see numerous R&B articles) to run for SGA and change it. If you try that and fail, then somehow you’re barred from ever criticizing SGA again, according to SGA’s supporters. And then they’ll try to enforce that by ganging up with their fellow insiders to make threats as they did against this website and label their opponents “sore losers”. It’s a vicious cycle, and hopefully the publicity this site is getting can help change that. Accountability is not a bad thing and the actions of certain individuals involved in SGA certainly warrant personal pillory.
And in response to Aaron, I believe the financial miscalculation occured before Chris started his job. Thus there was little he could do to prevent it from happening.
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[...] I want to thank everyone for the amazing support I’ve seen since Friday. I’ve received countless mentions, comments, and emails of support. The best, though, is that quite a few students have emailed me their problems with SGA. You’ll see the first sign of those problems in the next post about the SGA website. [...]
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