The majority of the student population doesn’t realize howour leaders in Associated Students Inc. affect each of us everyday. Ironically, ASI apparently does not even realize thispotential themselves.

At its April 21 meeting, the ASI board of directors defeated bya large margin a resolution that would have signaled support to thetroops. As an American citizen, as well as executive vice presidentof the Sacramento State’s College Republicans, I am disgustedthat the board failed to realize the importance of our military tothe campus community and our great country.

In summary, the resolution would have done two things. First,and most importantly, the resolution would have shown support forour troops all over the world. The second part of the resolutionwould have joined together the College Republicans with ASI to havea rally on May 6. The resolution would have supplied a minimal $200to help ensure a successful rally.

The resolution, presented by Joshua Wood, was a non-partisanresolution. In an effort to involve not only Republicans, but alsoDemocrats, Libertarians and others, we explicitly stated that theevent was nonpartisan. After all, the deployment of our men andwomen in uniform affects everyone, not only Republicans; virtuallyevery student has a friend or family member in the military (mostlikely on active duty). The resolution wished all of our heroes asafe mission.

The main reason the board rejected the resolution was because itwas a Republican event and therefore could not be nonpartisan. Thatreasoning is not only bad, but is exactly the opposite reasoningthat ASI has been using to support other events all year.

There have been examples of ethnic organizations holding”multicultural” events and receiving ASI money. Usingthe same reasoning it used for the troop rally, ASI should havereplied, “Since you are an ethnic-based organization, itwould be impossible for you to hold a multiculturalevent.”

Of course, we know this reasoning is ridiculous. Just asethnic-based organizations can hold multicultural events, CollegeRepublicans can also lead a nonpartisan, all-inclusive event.

Lets face it: ASI voted against this resolution because we are aRepublican organization. While we do stand for Republican values,the rally’s mission was to include everyone and wish all ofour troops a safe mission. It’s a sad day when our studentgovernment cannot look beyond party lines to do something that isso important to the men and women in uniform. It seems ASI has moreimportant things to do, like get the Recreation/Wellness/ EventsCenter passed and make sure students cannot form slates. It is,once again, a display of our student government’sincompetence.

Joseph Patterson is a senior at Sacramento State and deputyvice-chairman of California’s Capitol Region chapter ofCollege Republicans.

He can be contacted at [email protected]