Here is part II of my reply to the love letter from ©18:
Click here if you want to read part I of my response,
Here for part III
Or here for my conclusion on this whole SGA fiasco
THE QUESTIONS:
Questions to ©18
Questions to SUMMIT
If you want to to see the reference to
"Our morals shouldn't even be questioned," go down to the Grinch gif.
{Note: Emphasis will be added to parts of The Letter that I will address after that section as follows:
BOLD: Things I find amusing.
UNDERLINED: Things I want to clarify
ITALICS: Comments, concerns, and ideas (there will be blood)
If there is a mix of these, consider their meanings mixed as well.
I might not explain everything. ;)
}
OH and I guess I should appease the political correctness sensibilities of some parties, so I decided to include this disclaimer:
WARNING: Opinions/thoughts that are personal to me are contained below (and part of the Official Letter from ©18), and, as I've mentioned before, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Continue to feel free to disagree, take offense, and/or berate me for being wrong or not holding myself with the proper etiquette befitting my societal position, in the comments below. I love dialog.
(Based off our website BallState18.com)
LIVE:
“18% back of Exec Salaries given back to the student body.”
Well, the first point that is necessary to address here is WAIT THEY’RE GETTING PAID.
Yes. We are getting paid (if we win). We actually like to tell people that this is the biggest job interview on campus. Here is some information because you seemed confused and had some wrong information:
According to the SGA Bylaws in Article VII Section 6. “Elections, Stipends, and Terms of Office” The Bylaws read:
“Section 6. Officers of the Student Government Association shall receive stipends based upon the current in-state tuition. A. President of the Student Government Association shall receive a stipend equal to full tuition. B. Vice President of the Student Government Association shall receive a stipend equal to five-sixths (5/6) of tuition. C. Secretary of the Student Government Association shall receive a stipend equal to two-thirds (2/3) of tuition. D. Treasurer of the Student Government Association shall receive a stipend equal to two-thirds (2/3) of tuition. E. President Pro Tempore of the Student Senate shall receive a stipend equal to two-thirds (2/3) of tuition.”
So, as a potential slate member who would be paid this stipend from the university, I did some digging. I spoke called the Payroll and Employee Benefits department (770-285-8461) and spoke with Diana Cook, (I am not establishing my credibility off her on this matter because she wanted to remain neutral but I did speak with her about the payroll). Anyway, Mrs. Cook is one of the many payroll reps on campus. When we spoke I just asked her about the whole concept of the stipend. Who gave it? How was it paid? Were there taxes on the stipend? So on and so forth. So as I asked her these questions she filled me in:
• Our earnings would be given in a stipend form (basically a monthly check) from the university
• The money comes from the Student Government Association- she said there are funds in place but didn’t express if they came from our SGA budget
• The payments are on a monthly period (Not sure the exact increments because it is based off our tuition for next year) We will keep the student body posted!
• Taxes ARE taken from the stipend
• The amounts are dictated by the SGA Bylaws (seen above)
An Official Reply to "A Letter to a Mr. Horowitz," (Part II) from the desk of the Mr. Horowitz,
This part of your slate's letter brings to the table a very important question:
if you're going to be taking money out of a monthly check to add to the "hidden angels", philanthropic donation, what happens when there are more requests than this fund can manage?
It's not going to have $6000 right off the bat, it's going to total $6000 over the course of your term as an executive slate (i.e., a year).
Oh, and I just want to let you know, it's
Bimonthly, not ('basically') monthly; Ballstate's pay periods are based on two weeks. It's common knowledge among student employees (of which I also happen to be a part). I hope that clears up your slate's incremental confusion.
If you are elected, your slate will be paid twice a month, also known as every two weeks.
As for giving the money back, Let me clarify exactly one point of discussion:
How much are we giving back.
As you can imagine, personal finances have always been a sensitive issue to speak about publicly. And like I have stated, there is no way to figure out how much we would be giving exactly until we know which and how many classes we are taking next year. But, to guestimate, lets look at the numbers of years past. According to the admissions office and the tuition and fees tab on their website (http://cms.bsu.edu/admissions/tuitionandfees/graduate) it shows that the average cost of tuition for a in-state 9 credit hour student is $7,092. And that’s only 9 credit hours.
Seeing how most students (yourself included if you wish to graduate in 4 years) take 15 credit hours a semester, we went off that- because you’re not even considered eligible to run if you’re not taking 12 credit hours shown in the bylaws.
Here’s the math: 9 credit hours is around 7,092, so divide that by the three courses probably taken that is $2,364 for each class. So 5 classes, or 15 credit hours- if following those numbers provided by ball state’s and Indiana’s graduation program- is roughly $11,820 give or take based of different pricing for classes . We rounded down to $10,000 just to explain it without the nitty gritty numbers when speaking to people- we intent on getting the actual %18 when elected. WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON HOW MUCH WE END UP MAKING. Here is the estimated numbers:
President: Matt King- (Full tuition or 100% of $10,00)= $10,000+
Vice President: Greg Carbo- (5/6th of $10,000)= $8,300+
Treasurer: Race Bates- (2/3rd of $10,000)= $6,667+
Secretary: Lexi Williams- (2/3rd of $10,000)=$6,667
Total: $31,634 x .18 = 5,694.12
Rounded up to $6,000.
As for what we will spend this on, we want to see what they’re doing .
I think that’s the beauty of it. We have some great ideas, like helping females buy feminine products if need be (seeing how condoms are provided in the health center and tampons are not)
And other things along the way.
The main point is…
We want the student body to choose.
We will create a committee in charge of our philanthropic donation to the school. This money doesn’t have to jump through any loopholes or paperwork, it is up to us and the students and will help us create a better environment and relationship with the student body. But to address your question of “so what?”
We are the only slate so far to be giving money back to the student body, plus most people didn’t even know this was a paid position- so just the sheer fact of how many students now know we get paid and how many students are now interested in SGA because they realize their money is at stake, is monumental in itself.
EXPLANATION/CLARIFICATION:
 |
| This is finance at its finest folks. |
Okay, so I have a few problems with your math...
was what I was going to say.
Now, seeing as you told me to ignore the math I because you knew it was wrong, I was going to let it go, yet during the debate Thursday night you said that regardless, it'll still amount to $6000.
So, I did a bit more of a search because I thought, "Wait a moment, regardless of the actual percentages, it'll still be $6000...?" and found some interesting things:
- First, the amount of stipend is based on the UNDERGRAD tuition amount not the Graduates. So I'll include the actual link here even though I included it in my post that you replied to... The great thing is—when your credit hours range between 12-18—you don't have to worry about not knowing how much you'll make!~ It's already pretty easy to find out! I solved your problem!
- Secondly, I did some digging of my own and found the total stipend of the Current SGA President totaled $9,498. Yes, that may change, but to increase almost (a bit more than) $500 in a year...? and you're expecting it to total maybe OVER $10,000?
So now that we have a bit more of an accurate number to which we can base our estimations, let's do a bit of calcu-latin', yeah?
President(ial candidate): Matt King- (Full tuition or 100% of $9,498)= ±$9,498
Vice President(ial candidate): Greg Carbo- (5/6th of $9,498)= ±$7,915
Treasurer(Tresorial candidate): Race Bates- (2/3rd of $9,498)= ±$6,332
Secretary(Secretarial candidate): Lexi Williams- (2/3rd of $9,498)= ±$6,332
Total: ±$31,634(±$30,077) x .18 = ±$5,413.86
Rounded up to $6,000 (rounded up to... $5,500[?])
So, the total is about (plus-or-minus) fifteen hundred dollars lower than your initial guesstimation. Which totals about two-hundred dollars less than your estimate for your
generous donation to the students in need
, but you're rounding up to $6,000 anyway, so what's the problem?
Who's going to pay that extra six-hundred dollars so the fund breaks to an even $6,000? And when?
We've already established that your slate will pay into the philanthropic (catchy name? I like it.) fund every two weeks. It's super cool 'n everything. But what if the school takes a nose-dive next academic year?
Are you going to stick to your promise of $6,000 or are you going to stick to the 18%? Or will you just end up saying something like, "Well... we never said 'promise', 18% is our platform. We just were trying to estimate so the students could get a feel for how generous we are. Our bad. haha." Politics and word choices can be so tricky sometimes.
Enough with the dodgy word choices; the question still remains:
if this fund is overtaxed, what are you going to do?
- Are you going to have a waiting list for when the monthly money of the fund is released?
- Who will take priority? Clubs needing money for travel reimbursements?
- What about women suffering and in need feminine products?
- Will you turn away students who need money for funerals(which are ridiculously expensive anyway, whether it's travel or the funeral itself... send me to glory in a glad bag please)?
- How will you verify that the money went to what the individual said it did?
- Will it be a 'first-come-first-serve' fund where those who have an entrepreneurial/opportunistic spirit will get the majority?
- Also, confidentiality!? How can you regulate a fund (and make it transparent 'cause that seems to be the buzz word of the day) when some cases require confidentiality? Or someone requests confidentiality? Are you going to turn them away since it's something you can't promise?)
- Are you going to use personal money to support the fund until your stipend is delivered to you if it does become overused? If you do, will you reimburse yourself?
All these questions (and more!) have been running through my mind for several days.
I will tell you a secret: they're exhausted and they want rest.
You had a question of where our money came from for the campaign. Well I first would like to say your comments on the personal success of Mr. King seems somewhat rude- Mr. CareerTeach- works hard for his own money and his own business and to somehow question that his success has helped us in an unfair way or that the generosity of the slate is any less because of his success is like I said- rude. Now I’m sure a man of your stature and a respectful blogger didn’t mean to come off like that but realize that it can be perceived that way. If anything that shows his credibility as someone who can run an organization and handle himself in a professional manner.
I’m also glad you mentioned the SGA internal board that audits the budget aside from the treasury, because Matt was on that board. We know the ins and outs of the budget committee and how it operates and that’s why we wanted to make that fund. As for our morals with the money? We are running for a position to help the people, and are giving back our own salaries to the people. Our morals with shouldn’t even be questioned. Now I know with the presidential elections going on I can see your concern. Don’t be worried friend, we are here to help. ☺
As for the elections budget, it can be a bit confusing! Here:
We as a slate sent hundreds of letters to family and friends to fundraise. Usually each contribution was around $20. Our budget for our slate- for both slates as defined in the elections packet is $2,000. We have been and are well within that limit- not a penny more.
Now...shall we continue?
EXPLANATION/CLARIFICATION:
At first, when I read this section I was like:
 |
| Well, maybe not... |
|
|
Before I start talking about this, I would like to say that I
love how you've changed the problem that I was asking about.
I wasn't questioning where the money came from (though thank you for the clarification),
I was initially stating my views on generosity and how I feel that if you're going to be generous (and imply that you're being generous, philanthropic, and humanitarian and ALL the good labels to the general public),
you should probably be generous enough to have it actually hurt. Thus we have anonymous contributors/contributions, and the like, who are the
real "hidden angels" of society.
I realized that the 18% fits your message/platform better,
thus I included it more as a harmless dig to balance out the previous dig made on your rival presidential candidate (President to president, you know?).
For further explanation on my question "
How much money was actually spent on campaigning for both parties?":
Due to to fancy trimmings that seemed to be
present on both sides (i.e., the buttons, flyers, high-quality paper, a fancy music video, etc.), where ©18 seemed to focus on media (social and artsy) and SUMMIT, on word-of-mouth, flyers, and face-to-face communication, I thought a side-by-side comparison of
where money was invested would be fascinating to examine.
Due to my intense sarcasm, I see how that could be misinterpreted.
Now that you mention it, where the money came from would also be interesting to examine. From where did the contributions come, and from whom (not a direct question if you feel threatened by it)
?
It would be interesting to see who and what organizations had stakes in your respective slates.
I apologize for the fact that you felt like I was calling just your slate out even though I specifically mentioned "both parties." My thoughts can be pretty errant at times, so I chose to include "Personal money included, not just money from the budget." because I like to see the breakdown of statistics.
I understand that this is trying time and feelings and interpretations are prone run wild, so I'll try to be crystal clear for the remainder of this post.
So, my next point is this:
please keep your labels to yourself. :)
"A man of my stature" and "respectful"?
I am myself and will act according to my own personal beliefs, regardless of what you try to appeal to me. I will not try to comply with the labels that others have given me just because they sound like good things. Especially when they can be so open to interpretation.
'Respectful'? By what definition?
I certainly respect Mr. Career
Tech (you messed that up and I'm not sure he would appreciate that... it's in the URL and everything...) for his successful business ventures. It takes a massive amount of entrepreneurial spirit to do the things he has at a young age. I like that about him. I respect it.
I dig it. (I like the references to 'digging' that we going back and forth, so I'm keeping it alive.)
Do I respect him as a person simply because of his success?
Just because I like/respect one aspect of a person, does that mean I have to like/respect all of them? If so,
why? Is the person indistinguishable from their successes, their achievements, their accolades?
As an example: I will respect the office of President of the United States. That's a personal choice.
Must I respect the actions and choices of the person holding the office? Absolutely not, regardless of who wins this next election.
Are you going by the definition of being polite?
Sure, it wasn't the most polite dig; I admit that.
Yet, I made a similar dig on your rival SUMMIT; I didn't see you complaining about their honor being infringed upon, so why now?
This whole ordeal is about politics; you don't talk about it during 'polite' conversation in the first place.
If you choose to perceive my actions as 'respectful' or 'befitting a man of a specific stature' (which happens to be 5'11, just so we're clear), then go ahead. If you choose to perceive my words as rude, then please, by all means, perceive it as so.
They are up for your personal interpretation; as mentioned in the disclaimer above, these are my thoughts, opinions, and ideas.
It's time to move on.
Originally, I wasn't interested in asking questions about the subtopic ethics and morals, but since
you poked the sleeping bear, it woke up, and now I'm certainly overflowing with commentary, concerns, and questions
—
Do you think a person's morals have no sway over them when they are in office?
If you come to a fork in the road (whether you are elected or in life), will you stay true to a promise that you have made in the past, even if you realize it goes
against your morals, what
you believe in?
If you are in office, will your actions be independent from your morals?
You said, "We like the questioning, it helps us grow" and I
wholeheartedly agree; this is me trying to help
both of us grow into something more.
Later in this letter you state, "...you’re not just hiring the position. You’re hiring the people."
Questioning someone's morals (whether it be with money or otherwise) is a huge part of my selection process of 'hiring the people' for a position.
What
is a person but their character, their
mental and moral qualities?
If there is nothing to hide, the only thing that can ever come of questioning morals is good.
Also, using the fact that you are willing to give back part your stipends to justify that "your morals shouldn't be questioned" is a weak argument. It follows the same logic as today's messed up legal system. (i.e., "Paying a fine shows how sincerely I feel about my wrongdoing, because it is [arbitrary amount depending on the wrongdoing] out of my livelihood.")
If you're gonna apply the "Do unto others as you would yourself" logic and try to call me out, that's exactly what I'm doing.
I want who I am, why I'm doing the things I'm doing to be questioned. It can be annoying at times, I'll agree, but I
become a better person when I ask and answer honestly.
If we do not question the morals of those who are in
—or will come to—power, how will we make an informed choice? In the wise words of Captain Jack Sparrow,
 |
| Let it be known; I am not advocating dishonesty. |
The moral (lol) of the story is: the morals/ethics of a (wo)man is what I will be judging when they are running for office (yes, I can already hear the cries of,
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE SOMEONE ELSE!", to which I will
gleefully inform them that
I most certainly do when they are running for a position of power and I have the ability to vote/choose one of them),
whether it be for a small change Student Government Association election, or a national race between political superpowers. Do I
trust them to act in a moral and ethical fashion, regardless of whatever promises they made on their campaign?
Do I trust them to do what is right, not just what is wanted according to whatever (or whomevers')
agenda they may be following?
By extension, it seems (I could be totally wrong here but...) like you're saying that I shouldn't question
why a successful businessman is running for a political position at all.
I shouldn't question why a successful(?) CEO of a TV/Media company and CareerTech Social media site (based in Ohio, so I'm sure that keeps him busy doing all his CEO work from Ball State(?))
has a platform that is geared toward (mostly)
media centered initiatives that may (or may not)
benefit him in the long run, long after his term expires? Or that his companies might benefit from him being in office due to the media-centric style of your combined platform? Is it really the students that need these platform points? (Be a cynic with me for a moment, friend.
☺ Think about the implications.)
This further emphasizes my point in my original post about the ©18 slate: "it feels like I'm just supposed to get on the hype train (toot toot!), 'put a little faith in a mason jar,' and not ask the hard questions."
Ethics and morals are an essential part of politics. This seems to be an idea that is slipping away as we just expect our politicians to be crooked and power-hungry.
Should I stand by and let everything be handed to me as I lose my ability to have my own opinion?
(spoiler alert: Half Life 2) Will you take the liberty of choosing for me how my words and actions should be interpreted? I am aware of how my writing can be perceived and do not need or want your slate to chide me like a parent to a well-meaning child who has said or done something wrong, when. All. I. Have. Done. Is. Ask. Questions. As I have stated, this is a blog of my thoughts, opinions, and ideas; if you want to correct my facts, please do. If you have a personal problem with me, please say. I may use sarcasm a lot, but my questions are earnestly asked.
You have come to my blog to answer my questions,
for which I am grateful, but should I stand here and let myself be
told how to act appropriately within society when I, on a very basic level,
vehemently disagree?
Should I also stop questioning when companies are lobbying in congress for bills they want passed? Even when I feel like the bills they want passed are threatening me personally? Yet since
they have the experience both in business and in age, should I stand idle and believe that
they know best?
Signing off till tomorrow...
