Disputed account of ISS meeting
September 5, 2007
I was slightly surprised to read Paul Schmitt’s piece titled “President White Swings and Misses” because I do not feel that it went the way he writes. I happen to have attended that entire ISS meeting and found the circumstances a bit different. First of all, the “softball” questions that Schmitt refers to from the other student senators were legitimate questions and I do not believe that the senators would appreciate his sarcasm. Secondly, Daniel Nugent was not exactly polite when he asked the question and acted throughout the entire episode in a hostile and confrontational manner.
While Schmitt does correctly quote B. Joseph White, I would not say that he lost his cool and definitely did not make an attempt to apologize but rather asked that they leave on friendly terms rather than perpetuating the hostility that the previous episode captured. While I certainly do not agree with some of the decisions made by the administration, I do agree with the Board on the Chief issue as it was beginning to overshadow our many positive accomplishments that this University is making. While people like Paul Schmitt might like to keep the Chief issue around forever, I believe that the administration and the student body at large, especially the ISS, has much better things to do with their time than debate on an issue that is generally acknowledged to be dead in the water.