Stater’s ‘blatant attack’ is misguided, ignorant

Dear Editor:

It has come to our attention that your staff feels we are among a few organizations whose salaries should not be paid with student dollars. First of all, we would like to point out that the correct term here would be compensated, since no one receives actual paychecks, just dollars off of our tuition and a small stipend at the end of the year.

Personally, we feel your blatant attack on the minority groups on this campus is out of ignorance and misinformation. If you had properly researched each organization, you would know the reason why the members of Black United Students get compensated versus other organizations like KASA (Kent African Student Association), is because we are to the black student population what USS (Undergraduate Student Senate) is to the undergraduate student body. Our population includes the members of KASA because we are the umbrella organization that all of these groups exist under.

We also find it interesting that you chose not to mention groups like the ISO (International Socialist Organization), who truly serve a small fraction of the university’s population. Yet, you attack the groups who serve the black, Latino and LGBT population on campus. Why is that?

If we should not be compensated because we only serve a small portion of the student population, then we argue that groups like COSO (Commuter and Off-campus Student Organization), IFS (International Film Society), ISO and IGPB (Inter-Greek Programming Board) should not be compensated as well.

If you feel it is unjust for your tuition dollars to go toward our compensation, we would like to counter by saying we feel it is unjust for our tuition dollars to go to the Allocations committee or ACPB. Sticking with your argument, why should we support programming that is catered to the white heterosexual majority?

When there is a racial issue on this campus involving black people, the university doesn’t go to KASA or the NAACP. They come to BUS because we are the only black organization that is set up to handle things of that nature because first and foremost, we are a political entity.

Furthermore, if you had checked our history, you would know these facts. We don’t just program like other organizations, we impact this campus. When was the last time IGPB shut down Kent State University and got a building through negotiations? When was the last time ACPB removed a department chair from his office? We speak for all the minority organizations on this campus when we say that you should not make blind assumptions about an organization without knowing their history.

We would also like to respond to the question presented on Monday by saying: No, it is not fair that the BUS President receives the same amount of money as the rest of the ACPB board members. If anything, he, along with the presidents of PRIDE! Kent and SALSA, should receive the same amount as the ACPB president because the amount of work we do is comparable. We have to meet the same requirements and stipulations as COSO, USS and ACPB yet we are among the least compensated groups on this campus.

The real issue here is not the fact that we are compensated; it’s the fact that compared to other organizations, we receive far less.

So now, we are calling you out, if you don’t like the fact that we, as student leaders, are compensated, do something about it. Take some action because talk is cheap. It’s not enough to just present the argument. You have to follow through. Until you do, we would like to say keep your biased opinions because they are like buttholes – everyone has them so there’s no point in sharing.

The above letter was written by Sasha Parker, political affairs and grievances chair of Black United Students, and is the consensus opinion of the Black United Students executive board.