Recently, there has been some drama at Berkeley Law Blog surrounding the elections of the BHSA (student government). For those not in the know, the facts:
- A student (not a BHSA member) sent an e-mail to undisclosed recipients, presumably the leadership of some student groups. The email encouraged the undisclosed recipient to forward information about a “Boalt Hall Student’s Association Information Session” to any 1L and 2L students in their organization who were interested in a BHSA position.
- The sender also asked that the recipients not forward the email to their entire listserv.
- The email explained the function of the BHSA, and said that the "information session is being held exclusively to encourage students of color to run for BHSA positions, as we will provide you with important information regarding the responsibilities, time commitment, and importance of each of the BHSA positions.”
- The information session’s location was the home of several Berkeley students, including the current BHSA president.
- An individual anonymous student photocopied the email, and distributed it to every student by putting it in their lockers with a note on the back that alleged the student government president was hosting a private student government information session.
- The note also called for “A fair and transparent student government for all students.”
And my take:
The anonymous student[s] who distributed the email to student lockers should have confronted the individual who sent the initial email about their concerns before involving the entire student body as a whole. Had they done so, they would have accurate information about the meeting, and would have been able to voice their concerns in a constructive manner. As it stands, the anonymous student[s] have invaded the privacy of all the individuals involved, by photocopying a private email with a student’s home address.
Furthermore, the information session was not a BHSA-sponsored event, nor was the email sanctioned by BHSA, nor was the information
session being held by the BHSA president. This email was sent by an individual
student who was not a BHSA member. That individual student wanted to encourage
minority students to take part in student government.
I believe this is only an issue because it involves minority students. The fairness and transparency of the election is not compromised because individual students hold sessions to inform other students about the responsibilities of the positions and encourage them to run. The reason the fairness and transparency of the election is being questioned is because:
- There are a large number of minority students on the board of BHSA
- This information session was being held to provide minority students with information about BHSA and encourage them to run.
Unless this was a BHSA-sponsored and sanctioned
event, there is absolutely nothing unfair or not transparent about that.
For those of you who simply can’t get enough of
law student drama, you can read more about this entire issue here or read the BHSA's response:
Dear Boalt Hall Student Body,
On March 19, someone placed anonymous flyers in student lockers asking BHSA for transparency in elections. The email reproduced in the flyer was not sent by a BHSA board member. The meeting alluded to was not sanctioned by BHSA, was not attended by anyone who works on BHSA elections, and was not supported with BHSA funds.
BHSA board members are elected by Boalt Hall students. We are your classmates, fellow group members, mod-mates, and Zeb-loving friends. When we were elected as student representatives, we did not relinquish our personal capacities to encourage like-minded students to become active in BHSA. It is unfortunate that concerned individuals felt the need to publish the personal address of one of our board members; those who choose to remain anonymous can surely appreciate the value of privacy.
There is no one on BHSA who was not elected by her or his peers, nor is there a method by which an unelected Board member can take office. Election information is sent in an email to the entire school via Student Services (you might have seen one on Tuesday), and advertised in flyers posters by the BHSA Secretary.
Board Members appoint students to the Building, Faculty Hiring, Admissions, Clinical, Teaching & Curriculum, and Financial Aid Committees. This school year, we have held about fifty 20-minute interviews with students. We encouraged Dean Edley to have town hall gatherings, and the Student Liaison Committee to the Faculty Hiring Committee recently held its own town hall. We have also met with the Dean’s office about increasing communication with Boalties, and set benchmarks to have two town halls per semester, more Edley tea sessions, and a regular e-mail bulletin from the Dean’s office.
We also distribute BHSA funds to student groups. We obtain this money by renting space to the (newly named) Joyce Hall Bookstore in return for a 6% share of its profits. As internet book sales increase, our incoming funds decrease. We do not have the money to fully fund Boalt’s approximately fifty student groups; that would require about $100,000 per year. Distributions are based on the funding application, the number of students in the group, and the applying group’s funding level in previous years. This year, we were excited that we did not have to decrease funding for any student groups in the Spring and were even able to increase the funding to most groups, despite the typical drop in book sales for the second semester.
The BHSA should have better communication with our fellow students. We sometimes take for granted our ability to communicate casually with our peers, not realizing that there are many who are not privy to our day-to-day affairs. We plan to have a BHSA update once a month in the Boalt Bulletin Board. In the meanwhile, we thank the anonymous letter-writer(s) for advertising our BHSA Election Information Meeting (April 1), BHSA Candidate Forum (April 7), and our BHSA Elections (April 9 & 10). In the recent past, there has not been overwhelming interest in BHSA elections; please come to the Information Meeting if you are passionate about these opportunities and are willing to put in the hard work required to keep BHSA running!
This year we kept student groups on-campus, surprised the 1Ls with A-J-r Day, and supported LRAP reform in the face of rising tuition. We look forward to talking with our fellow students about our new initiative to publish professor reviews, the increase in faculty hiring, the paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms, our plans to do a clothing drive in April, and everything in between.
Sincerely,
Boalt Hall Student Association Board Members
I'll share my perspective. It's short and sweet:
Shame on the flier poster for slandering the hard workers at BHSA from the cloak of anonymity and shame on the anonymous flier poster for kicking off a "debate" that makes my school look like, as a commenter on Berkeley Law Blog said, "a bunch of wankers"
Okay, I take it back. That was short and not-so-sweet.
But the BHSA response was so polite and so wounded sounding that it kind of sparked my sympathy. Those people work hard for us. Why aren't there anonymous fliers that contain praise and compliments?
Posted by: Patrick | March 28, 2008 at 09:14 AM
I agree that it is only an issue because they brought race into it, and I agree with Patrick - shame on the "anonymous" person. It's one thing to be a whistle-blower if you're trying to call out the Federal Government (a la Watergate), but another entirely if you are trying to bully around people that work really hard for us (BHSA).
At the exact same time, it was a silly email to send out; I've heard even minority BHSA members did not endorse it, and I doubt it was representative of the BHSA's feelings.
But yeah, at the very least black out the address (or sign your name to it).
Posted by: Toney | April 01, 2008 at 03:51 PM