Editor:

The A.S. Council decision to infringe upon Student-Run Televison’s ability to make autonomous programming decisions is not sad because “Koala TV” cannot show porn. It is depressing because it perfectly illuminates the fact that the interests of A.S. representatives and the administration are in unison. The students who run the station decided — at what they certainly knew was their own peril — to allow the Koala to produce a show. The students of SRTV were not supported by their student government, even after students who contacted the station supported the show 57 percent to 43 percent. There is simply no conclusion to draw other than our A.S. representatives caved to political correctness and finally admitted to what we all knew after their support of the Price Center expansion: They are yet another arm of the administration. How does this work?

You see, the administration sets up committees, whose members receive generous stipends. Who fills these committees? A.S. representatives, of course. Who did A.S. choose to represent them on the registration fee committee, the highest-paid committee on campus? Jenn Pae, our A.S. president. Nearly all of the other members of this committee (and most other paid committees), representing the six colleges colleges, are students from the A.S. Council. They have little financial interest in disagreeing with the administration, especially on such a contentious manner as this one. Even if A.S. representatives are not on committees, the opportunities of gaining jobs at UCSD, letters of recommendation, etc. cause too many links between the A.S. Council and the administration to go unquestioned.

If this is too cynical a view, then at least the students of the A.S. Council should reject their administration-funded babysitter, or “A.S. adviser,” who holds a seat at all A.S. meetings. While this individual may not necessarily have a vote on the committee, the relationships he or she forms with A.S. committee members certainly allows the administration’s influence to be constantly felt. I hope in the future A.S. members will distance themselves from actual campus controversies, and not pass resolutions controlling other campus organizations. SRTV does not need the Associated Students as a nanny, unlike A.S. representatives, who use the administration as both a crutch and a leg up.

-Charles Dahan

Eleanor Roosevelt College Junior