Last week, many students were stunned by the news that the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) presidential candidate Tyler Bowyer was selected by Gov. Jan Brewer to be the student regent for ASU.
According to Katie Shoultz’s State Press article on Mar. 28, Bowyer completely disregarded the student-run and student-led process for selecting the next student regent by applying for the position directly to the governor’s office instead.
It is ironic that Bowyer is campaigning on a platform of clarity, accountability and unity. This situation has led to confusion, because Bowyer was not among the three candidates legitimately selected by students, and yet he was the governor’s final choice.
Instead of doing the right thing by committing to his decision of applying to the regent position, Bowyer decided to go ahead and also run for USG president, failing to disclose this information to the student body until after news broke.
Bowyer’s move is one of self-interest. If he did not get the regent position, he would at least have USG president to fall back on, and vice versa.
Bowyer’s lack of transparency was enough of a blow to the already dwindling student power in Arizona to further scrutinize the goings-on of matters in higher education.
However, while I would like to believe that the USG president could don a cape and save the University, I realize that the problem runs much deeper.
The corruption and austerity sweeping Arizona is a byproduct of who controls the legislature and how those people come to power.
Currently, legislators pass policies that harm Arizona’s most vulnerable populations — like young people — who turn to basic government services such as education and medical assistance for basic survival.
Most recently, Mary Jo Pitzi from The Arizona Republic reported that the legislature cut $450 million from education, with the universities taking a $198 million cut, while “freezing enrollment of childless adults in the Medicaid program” in order to cut $510 million from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
In addition to budget cuts, Brewer supported Senate Bill 1070, which has had immensely negative economic effects. For example, the Arizona Capitol Times reported that $1.5 million has already gone into defending the law, money that could have been used elsewhere.
Yet, in a State Press article by Uriel Garcia on Oct. 24, 2010, Bowyer described Brewer as “right for the job” due to her support for the fiscally irresponsible and reactionary law.
Bowyer also opposed a different law, SB 1071, which would provide statistical data to track whether racial profiling occurs, an issue affecting many ASU students, as reported by Tiffany Ngo in The State Press on Feb. 1.
Furthermore, even though USG passed a resolution to support the DREAM Act, Uriel Garcia reported on Nov. 15, 2010, that Bowyer spoke against the consideration of it, a fallacious and anti-student position called out by Daniel Rodriguez in a letter to the editor two days later.
At the end of the day, until the people of Arizona organize to change our elected government officials, entities like the Arizona Board of Regents and ultimately the universities will continue to behold the legislature, as shown by the recent Bowyer appointment.
Reach Athena at asalman3@asu.edu
