There is pride in Unity | Part III

{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, 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.

18February 24, 2016 at 7:48 AM

University Pride:

I see you listened to the debate! I’m glad. I can see why you weren’t too impressed, seeing figures like trump and Bernie on stage can lead to some pretty high expectations when compared to an SGA debate for our school in Muncie, Indiana. However, if you listened closely to the debate I actually spoke about what University Pride meant. It means changing the culture. The culture we speak of is a culture focused around fun, friendship, school pride, and learning. We want people invested into sports not just for each and every student on this campus that enjoys sports, but also for the players. They wear our school proudly on their chest and we want to know we support them.

So why SGA? What would we do?

We want to partner with the nest, or in terms that are black and white- work hand in hand for the same mission. After speaking with the president of the nest, Ryan McCormick, we realized that The Nest is an organization with many people passionate about sports. If elected, we would use our many connections with other organizations to connect it with the nest- like a possible Humans vs. Zombies game within the arena (If its possible) through UGL. We definitely love themes like camo, neo, etc. But the possibilities are endless and that’s what we want to express. We are the people that will pick up the phone; we are the people that get things going. You have great ideas, and we are approachable and accepting- two characteristics that’ll help you, the nest, and everyone to work with the SGA together.

An Official Reply to "A Letter to a Mr. Horowitz," (Part III) from the desk of the Mr. Horowitz,

First of all, you should know that I never, even for a second, was comparing you to a presidential political debate, nor was I expecting something even near that caliber. Honestly, I haven't even watched this year's yet (not that I'm even interested in those two particular candidates) because if I happen to be curious, I'll read the transcripts and summaries. (Y'know, the whole student thing can be a pain sometimes... homework, projects, blog posts to write, cleaning my room, etc.)

That was the first SGA debate that I had ever attended, so I didn't have any expectations as I entered the room. I happen to like Muncie and this school, thank you very much. The second debate I attended wasn't much better.

Next, I happened to mention in my previous post that I came in at the tail-end of the first debate, so if you mentioned it, I was probably still settling in.

Onward to the next in line... "We want people to be invested into sports not just for each and every student on campus that enjoys sports, but also for the players."

You see, I still have a huge problem with that logic.

So you want people to be invested in sports not just for students who enjoy them, but for the players...

What about the people, such as myself, who do not particularly enjoy watching sports, or the environment that is present at games?

You want us, and those who don't fit into either of those aforementioned categories, to support those two specific populations to enhance their enjoyment? That's assuming that you know that everyone will benefit from attending games and being invested in the sports programs (which I know are struggling, but still). Yet, only those two parties (avid sports fans and players) seem to be benefiting the most.

Must we be invested in sports to let our athletes know we support them?

You can make the argument that it benefits students in the long run with publicity, or something or other, but it seems that I must sacrifice my own time (when I already pay for every. single. ticket. to. every. game. with my tuition to keep the athletic program afloat) to support something in which I have no interest. Now, you can say that my possible benefits are covered in the next part that we address, yet I feel that it's very... insubstantial compared to the promise you have made to the two parties who would most benefit.

Lastly, I must say: "Nice dodge." I will continue to emphasize that "work[ing] hand in hand for the same mission" is exactly what I am concerned about. 

You have "realized that The Nest is an organization with many people passionate about sports."

Great. That's fantastic.

So, as you've stated before, you "want everyone invested in sports," so by partnering with this organization, which is full of "people passionate about sports," you intend on making sports a greater focus on campus, regardless of what all other parties may need or want.

You are all running for the executive slate of the Student Government Association. You're running to represent all students within this community (all 16,416ish of us undergrads), not just the athletic program and those invested in it. 

You may say your other platform points address other student population needs, but what if (a possible example) the money that ©18 gives to The Nest (via a 'sponsorship-from-SGA' route) outweighs its 'philanthropic donation'?

Thank you for validating my concerns.

You are talking about partnering or "working hand in hand" with an organization which charges money for all major benefits (red and white levels of membership). I specifically asked about whether you were referring to full-time co-sponsorship or any form of sponsorship, to which you did not address. Simply stating that my points about funding were valid is not enough to alleviate my concerns. 

18February 24, 2016 at 7:48 AM

The ‘Hype Team’ would be prominent figures that we would have try outs for- that want to be in the nest and have the responsibility to get ALL the students involved, not just nest attendees. If you’re in a game you see 20-30 students super involved and the rest sitting down enjoying the game. We want everyone to be pumped up to watch these games! People love people and we want to give the hype team the opportunity to get the  students more involved. See it as a more personable Charlie Cardinal that actually can go into the crowd. Over time- more people would want to try out for it, and thus the nest- along with sports attendance- will increase (be an optimist with us for a minute).

As for funding- all your points are valid. We will work with any sports program with whatever power we as an exec slate can through SGA. But again, you’re not just hiring the position. You’re hiring the people.

I hope I answered all your questions. If I didn’t, feel free to ask more.

Next platform point of LIVE:

 EXPLANATION/CLARIFICATION:

Okay, so now there's an explanation for "Hype Team."

Great. Still concerning, as this 'team' will be under the Nest, yet still managed(?) by SGA. w00t.

So... now you can answer the rest of my questions:

• Is it gonna have its own budget, and where will this budget come from SGA? The Nest? Its members who will have shed blood, sweat, and tears to join? I don't think that'd be a very powerful incentive.
• What about the people who just want to observe the game? 
• How will you balance getting people 'pumped' and getting up in their grill (which they may see as harassment)? Yes, people sometimes do indeed love people. Personally, I enjoy their (i.e., random strangers) company without them getting into, without my permission, my personal space in public (those of you who know me, know that I have little or no personal space in lower-populated environments).

I know several people who, like me, have expressed dissatisfaction with this point as they simply want to sit and watch the game. You "wanting everyone to be pumped up to watch these games," is rather problematic because you're going to enforce this with the 'hype team.' 

Signing off till tomorrow.

Questions to ©18
Questions to SUMMIT

Part I
Part II
Conclusion