2008 Woodie Awards
if you give a mouse a cookie
Billy Davis
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Post
A letter to the editor last week described failing communications between students and a faculty member. Tiffani's words and her earnest plea for understanding thrust the following story into existence.
There is so much we can learn from a failed or failing regime; we return to the Republic of Bananarama. The junta that occurred in Ana's nation was not simply failing economic policy, or the plight of impossible competition with multi-national corporations of the developed world, but rather a conjuncture of many factors that toppled her government.
Within her government there were many officials in appointed positions, with committees and subcommittees, all of which were guided by central principals coupled with specific guidelines for each group. This complex hierarchy was constructed to ensure internal oversight, while guaranteeing a level of democracy that was entirely dependant on open, honest, and frequent communication.
A design is only as good as those charged with carrying it out, thus Ana should have kept a close eye on any issues with her appointees and committees. However, she failed most definitively with one of her appointees.
Her Vice President of Union Affairs was trusted with advising the Affiliated Service Workers for Organizational Unity (ASWOU), and confirmed policy put forth by the ASWOU committee president; he too was obligated to at least one hour of service for the members of ASWOU every day to ensure open dialogue, and should have been familiar with the established guidelines of ASWOU and its subcommittees, such as the Internal Funds Commission (IFC).
For this charge, he was paid extremely handsomely, putting him among the social elite, the comprador class of Bananarama. This abominable level of compensation became a source of resentment among the Associated Service Workers, inspiring images of his face with "Advertise Here" tattooed on his unusually large forehead. Rhetorically, these symbols became significant for rallying the junta in one catalyzing moment.
There is so much we can learn from a failed or failing regime; we return to the Republic of Bananarama. The junta that occurred in Ana's nation was not simply failing economic policy, or the plight of impossible competition with multi-national corporations of the developed world, but rather a conjuncture of many factors that toppled her government.
Within her government there were many officials in appointed positions, with committees and subcommittees, all of which were guided by central principals coupled with specific guidelines for each group. This complex hierarchy was constructed to ensure internal oversight, while guaranteeing a level of democracy that was entirely dependant on open, honest, and frequent communication.
A design is only as good as those charged with carrying it out, thus Ana should have kept a close eye on any issues with her appointees and committees. However, she failed most definitively with one of her appointees.
Her Vice President of Union Affairs was trusted with advising the Affiliated Service Workers for Organizational Unity (ASWOU), and confirmed policy put forth by the ASWOU committee president; he too was obligated to at least one hour of service for the members of ASWOU every day to ensure open dialogue, and should have been familiar with the established guidelines of ASWOU and its subcommittees, such as the Internal Funds Commission (IFC).
For this charge, he was paid extremely handsomely, putting him among the social elite, the comprador class of Bananarama. This abominable level of compensation became a source of resentment among the Associated Service Workers, inspiring images of his face with "Advertise Here" tattooed on his unusually large forehead. Rhetorically, these symbols became significant for rallying the junta in one catalyzing moment.
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