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Unprofessionalism Within the Undergraduate Student Government (Resubmission)
I am resubmitting this feedback after having it get deleted. If SB Voice really is a forum where student voice can be freely expressed and heard, then please do not delete this post again. In case this posting gets deleted from SB Voice, I am authorizing any Stony Brook University student news source to duplicate my post, in order to inform other students about the my concern.
I saved what I originally typed in a separate document in case of such a situation. Although I saved the post as a precautionary measure, I honestly did not think I would need it. Looks like I was wrong. I censored all the pictures to not include any individual names or photos, to respect the privacy of those individuals, so I cannot conceive of any reason that would warrant the deletion of my post. If the Vice President of Communications and Public Relations can use SB Voice to express his desire to "Turn U-Cafe into a strip club", why can't I use it to express my legitimate concerns?
I took a screenshot of my browser's history, displaying proof that a page on SB Voice entitled "Unprofessionalism Within the Undergraduate Student [Government]" (my original post) existed.
Well at least I get to add one thing I did not mention before, the misuse of the "USG at Stony Brook University" page. A post by USG at Stony Brook University claimed that one particular artist was coming for annual Fall Concert. It later commented on its own post, retracting the statement. However, it did so while stating "probs" at the end of the post, making it seem that either the Administrator(s) of the page did not take the alleged hack seriously, or that the account was never hacked in the first place.
The page would later have to make another post (and a comment on that post) stating that the artist would not be coming to the University to help cease the confusion. One of the reasons attendees of the Undergraduate Student Government Student Activities Board's meetings are told not to discuss the potential artists for USG's concerts is because the USG wants to avoid disappointing students by getting them to think the booking of a particular artist is plausible. The organization evidently (as seen from some of the comments) does exactly what it does not want anyone else doing: gets people's hopes up about one particular artist by publicly mentioning the possibility (the post was actually stated in a definite manner) of her arrival.
**BEGIN ORIGINAL POST:
Unprofessionalism is apparent within the USG for a wide variety of reasons. I will focus on one particular facet because of the clarity it provides: the abuse of the USG Facebook Account. I am friends with the "Usg Stony Brook" account because I want to remain informed about USG sponsored events and initiatives. Although the account does provide that information, its activity has recently been showing up on my newsfeed for completely unrelated matters.
The account has posted on an alum's timeline stating, "Why won't you accept my love :(".
It has also commented, "I AM KING" on the same alum's status update which stated, "'Any man who must say, I am the king, is no true king.' -Tywin Lannister".
The account has also "liked" different pictures and statuses of current students, which causes them to appear on my newsfeed.
I would like to unsubscribe from the USG's account activity or even de-friend the account because of this behavior, but that would hinder my ability to quickly access the relevant information the account is intended to disseminate. Checking up on the account manually and not having it appear in my newsfeed would have largely negative implications because the USG's Facebook is its most wide-reaching and fastest updated marketing tool. Timely notice is important, especially considering the fact that advertising for certain events can only happen extremely close to the date of the event, due to contract signings not being able to be completed until then.
The preference and attention the USG account gives to students closely connected to the organization, or rather the members of the organization's Executive Council, only exacerbate the notion that the organization does not put all "students first", but that it puts very specific students first. Comments praising a member of the Executive Council, such as "(I think the new VP o Communications is too good at his job :)", only add fuel to the fire.
Furthermore, statuses about inside jokes such as "tybg" (defined by Urban Dictionary as, "an abbreviation of 'Thank You Based God'.It's a way of showing your thankfulness to Bay Area rapper Lil B The Based God.") come up on the newsfeeds of all 2,025 of its friends (assuming some of them have yet to unsubscribe from the account's activity). The focus of the USG's statuses should be highlighting what the organization did, is doing, or will be doing and not used for “Just expressing our love for Based God". A status like that could really confuse and misinform students, even if the account later comments, “Sorry to everyone, but unfortunately we are not blessed enough to have based god grace us with his presence.”
Last but certainly not least, the current Vice President of Communications and Public Relations used his Twitter account to link to an Instagram post of the account “stonybrookusg”. This came up on Facebook. The post displayed a picture of an item resembling a Nazi swastika (whether or not it was one can be debated, however the VP of Communications and Public Relations implied the possibility by stating, "Bottom of my friends door. He claims its an Indian thing but I don't buy it. #shitler. #wtf #selfie http://t.co/O1xeTw3Dz9”). Even though the post has since been deleted, the fact that it was ever posted is both extremely offensive and careless, not to mention unprofessional.
Customer support service by UserEcho
Honestly, I appreciate USG's new policy of taking the stick out their ass
So, my name is Mario.
And since the majority of this post is an attack at me, i guess i'll respond
First off as for the last comment that seems to be the most intense, that was on my (Mario ) facebook account, with the comment from my friend. I realized it was offensive and is why i deleted it.
As for the rest of your post. I'm sorry if you find the USG page to be unprofessional and i do see your point. Was some of what i posted dumb? Absolutely, but i am trying to give USG a bit of a personality, if that makes sense.
So I'll through each one and try to explain myself
All of the comments/ pictures i liked were not to random students, but to former/current members of USG. Immature? Probably. But and i think this should be highlighted. I'm kinda immature. And this shouldn't come as a surprise to the students, i posted sloths on all of my posters, ran on the "after party" and dressed as a penguin whilst campaigning. With that said, i also have been getting work done, which is exactly what i campaigned on. So im sorry if you were offended by things i did on the USG account, and will take what you said, and try and uphold a more professional appearance for USG on social media.
As for the status you showed, TYBG, was not made to misinformed students, and once i realized that had occurred i made sure to let those students know the truth.
(As for the Miley Cyrus comment, that was in fact not my doing. I left the USG page open in my office and someone got on it and posted that. I realized that, and within 2 mins had made attempts to correct the mistake )
ALSO: the reason i posted all of the questions onto SB-Voice (such as turn U-cafe into a strip club) was because we switched SB Voice over from another server (this one is free, the other was not) and i wanted to keep all the originial questions, so i posted them he myself. Not that i want those things to happen, but so people can see them
The reason i deleted this post is because it was an attack on me, Again, i will take what you said and use it for the furture.
Side note. Should USG Be professsional ? Yes. But then again, this student body does not respond to it as well. I can give you a perfect example. Last year we posted a poll to decide the Roth Regatta theme. Where anyone could write in a idea. The winner? Dicks, by a large amount.
Fear not concerned student! The time honored tradition of journalism shall aid you in your endeavor to take down this obviously fascist regime. As the Stony Brook Enquirer is unfunded by the USG, our independent news organization is beyond the jurisdiction of any organization thanks to the first amendment! https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stony-Brook-Enquirer/107002229340373
Dear "Concerned Student"
As the current Executive Vice President, I think it's okay for the VP of Communications & PR/USG to joke around a little bit as long as we are doing our job and helping out the students to the best of our abilities. I definitely think that more students have been aware of what USG has been doing due to the content we have put out there this summer. The USG BBQ sold out within 45 minutes and the USG Movie Showing had over 100 people attend which was more than we expected so students are responding very well to the USG advertising/marketing plans.
While I disagree with the Miley Cyrus comment made by another student who wasn't the VP of Communications, I think the rest of the comments/Facebook likes are fine. The After Party won as a collective whole and we campaigned on having fun while getting the job done so we are fulfilling our campaign platform.
I personally took the picture of my friend eating and liked it from the USG page (not Mario) just to be funny since she and the person whose page this is on, have worked for USG in some capacity. Maybe it was a tad immature but I think it shouldn't be weird for USG to like students' pages because it gets students to more so click on the USG page and see what is going on. Also, it's just a sign of USG supporting students! I have chosen to only like stuff of friends because I know they won't be weirded out and can still achieve the goal of having their friends to click on the USG page if they see USG liking a photo of their friend.
-Mallory Rothstein (reach me at mrothstein@stonybrookusg.org if needed)
If only the students tried this hard to get involved on campus
Hey,
I don't know who you are but I am really uncomfortable with you using my picture. I know my face is blurred out but people know it's me, and I keep all of my photos private to only my friends, so I'm not sure how you had access to it... I understand you are voicing your concerns, but next time, please don't include other peoples' photos in it. I asked USG to take down the post because I felt uncomfortable with my picture being in it, and I appreciated that they did, but now it has been resubmitted and you claim that you will send it to other sites? Pleas remove the photo in this if you are going to do so.
Thanks
Jillian