The email in the Miner was very disturbing, that a state representative would have that much hatred for the UM system, and try to cu its funding just because he doesnt like the leadership. I say we email him every day until he apologizes, or just gets really pissed.

Shouldn't we first make sure our leadership doesn't suck? I mean what evidence do we have either way. I had never really thought on the subject.

That's true... but we should make it a two prong attack... how can we make the leadership better if there's no money? All I'm saying is I think this guy is a confirmed ASSHOLE. Isnt the point of a representative for government is to do what his/her constituents want him to? I can't believe that all the people in his district hate the MU system.

[quote]On 04-11-2002 19:12 Uberdude wrote:
[...]Isnt the point of a representative for government is to do what his/her constituents want him to? [quote]

No, the primary duty of a Senator/Representative is to uphold the Constitution of the US and, for state Congresspeople, to uphold their respective states' Constitutions. As I understand it, the University of Missouri is mandated by the Missouri Constitution. If Representative Dumbass' constituents want UM System gone, that's tough. He's got to amend the Missouri Constitution first. And that will never fly.

Assuming UMSystem is mandated, he is, to a certain extent, trying to circumvent the Constitution of the state of Missouri.

Well, that makes sense. But I guess with the incredible amount of ignorant people around, how can we get this guy out of office? I'm not even from Joplin.

One question about this entire process is how so many people in the legislature can be 'anti-education'. It seems like money tagged for education is always deemed untouchable. I remember the Handcock II amendment that was an issue when I was a freshman in high school. It seems like everyone was going ballistic over the thoughts of 'deep cuts' into education spending. Where is the horror now? Does anyone not directly involved in the University system not know this?

First off forward all flames to /dev/null--otherwise read at your own caution:

I believe a representative is just that--he should represent the thoughts of his constituents. Therefore he does not represent us as we are not in his district. This brings us to a paradox though. Why does he have control over what the MU system does anyway? It's not of his concern--except that the ignorant irresponsible and incompetent government is making him be taxed (him meaning him and his constituents) Frankly, even though cutting funding would hurt me considerably, as well as others, I don't believe in a department of education for the national nor the state level and believe they should be abolished. Why do I have to work my ass off in the instance of last summer and make $3000 while Uncle Sam took 1/3rd ($1,000) of that for bullshit like this? Look at your classes--how many people drop out of this college in the first or second semester? My calc teacher has kicked out close to 3/4ths of our original class size of 90 people because they were a waste of his and the rest of the classes's time. My point is that many of these people have scholarships (federal) and they just blew that tax money. Example: I talked to a guy last night over a couple of beers who said as long as he kept his 1.6 then he was going to be paid (through tax money) to goto school here. WTF?! Money which could have been wisely invested in other means to forward our rights that are constantly being infringed upon by power tripping sobs. I believe the only function of a government is to protect the rights of it's citizens. Our only function as citizens of the said government is to exercise our rights and exercise responsibility.
So that was a huge tanget--my bad. To get back to the original point, there are many factors in a case like this and a lot of bullshitters that wouldn't know politics if it bit them in the ass are going to host different opinions that you might need to just throw away cause they are absurd. If you believe that this gentlemen is doing you harm by his comments/actions you can contact your state representative (sorry out of state people) and explain what is going on. Applying pressure from several reps will probably crack the mentality that is driving this man's anti-MU system. Frankly, until I start receiving respect from several administrators on campus (such as James Seville) I am in full support (especially in light of my earlier arguments) of the cuts. Chancellor Thomas instituted three new positions when he came to power at paying jobs of all over $100,000--that's $300,000/yr we could put to better use.
I'm tired of this bitch-post so good luck in your prospectives.

I've read some of the things this guy has said in reply to inquiries of his message in the Miner. He sounds like a dildo who is really uninterested in what a bunch of kids at Rolla have to say. I'm going to send this guys' comments to the Joplin newspaper for his voters to see. If anyone has written this guy and received any replies feel free to forward them to me at mmatth@umr.edu.

-Duck

also, I'm forwarding the letter/ any responses I see to some friends at Mizzou since it is a "journalism" school.

On the national level I agree with you. I look at the programs that the DOE wants to throw money at and I shutter. I find it hard to believe that people can look at the amount of money they have spent over the past 30 years and then argue that they are serving a useful purpose. The whole constitutionality of the DOE is another issue...

On the state level I'm not so sure. I'd be interested to see where the arguement goes on this one.



Simple. You need to pay all those people who didn't did work. Or didn't save for your retirement. Or who tore up the interstates that they are going to finish fixing sometime in 2020.


I'm not sure that is really fair. Sometimes people get in over their heads. They still have to pay back their loans anyway. I'm not sure how many federal grant their are (I never looked because I knew I wouldn't qualify) but I wasn't under the impression that there were that many of them.


Huh? Do they let you go to school here with a 1.6? You can't graduate like that.


I'll drink to that.



That's pretty weak. I would guess that I've had more exposure to Seville then you have, and I would agree that he is an ass and that he is getting worse. But this seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[qoute]Chancellor Thomas instituted three new positions when he came to power at paying jobs of all over $100,000--that's $300,000/yr we could put to better use.[/qoute]

That is a good point. I wonder why more people haven't addressed that, especially since we have been having this 'budget crisis' for a few years now. I wonder if it would have been possible to aquire a specific breakdown of where the money goes in this school. It would make interesting reading. Though when I tired to do that in high school, they worked pretty hard to make sure I didn't get it, so it might be an exercise in futility.

See my comment regarding the Constitution.

That would hurt public schools a lot, and not just colleges. It might even end them. Without state BOE's, local school districts would probably erupt into chaos. It would definitely lower educational standards, because the state BOE's set them. Currently, when you graduate from a state high school, the state basically says "You have done what we think is necessary for you to graduate." Your diploma is at least as good as the state says it is. Without state standards, your diploma is only as good as your school is. This would be very bad, IMO.

If that's all you made, you should be eligible to get it all back. AFAIK, if your earned income (job earnings) is < about $7000, and your unearned (interest, stocks, etc) income is < around $800, you don't even have to file a 1040, and you can work it so that you only pay FICA. No federal, state, or local taxes. Even if your unearned income is > $800 (or whatever the limit is), you still can exempt yourself from taxes; but you do have to file a return.

If it's calc 2, that explains it. I would bet that more people have serious problems with Calc 2 than any other course on this campus. If everybody had to take thermo, though, that would be my top pick. But I digress...

This is a tougher school than normal. Just because you can't hack it here doesn't mean you're not capable of college work and/or being a productive human being.
I would argue that we have a right to get good training for a job (be it college, vo-tech training, apprenticeships, whatever) that can provide you with what you need to survive. 50 years ago, a high school diploma was just about all you needed to get a decent job and be able to live comfortably (not extravagantly) and raise a family. This is no longer the case. I would be very concerned today if the only people that could get that training were just those who could afford it out-of-pocket. Government loans (which get paid back with interest) and grants are a way of making sure that anybody can get the training they need to make a living.
How do we know that you don't fit into your own profile? I agree. You helped pulled out the TJ tunnel boards. Why the fuck should anyone from Reslife (or any arm of the University) give you the time of day? Didn't your (collective your, not you in particular) actions cost the University several thousand dollars? And you complain about other people wasting money?
While I agree that, at face value, this looks bad; I don't know the specifics. Perhaps these jobs eliminate costs somewhere else, so that it saves money in the long run. Maybe that's not the case. I don't know, but I bet you don't either.