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| A Lesson In Morality For Uduak-Joe Ntuk, A.S.I. Presidential Hopeful |
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| Everyone knows that politics is a dirty business, and maybe that is due to its cutthroat nature, but don't kid yourself in thinking that only the federal government makes politics dirty. School elections are coming in April, and yes, even politics here at Cal State Long Beach are scummy. Before saying anything else I must make clear that this article will be especially useful for the Campus Progressives and La Raza, two clubs who have already endorsed A.S.I. presidential candidate Uduak-Joe Ntuk behind-the-scenes, and given the liberal nature of the two aforementioned campus clubs, one would think that they would be some of the biggest activists against corrupt politics. This time, they have clearly endorsed the wrong candidate. |
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| Ntuk, who is one of the two senators from the College of Engineering, has been very vocal about his opposition to the Daily 49er's request for a referendum to be placed on the ballot in April that would grant this newspaper needed money to ensure its existence. In the last A.S. Senate meeting before Spring Break, Ntuk was quoted as saying the following, regarding the Daily 49er's appeal: "I think the media on campus is biased. I would never support Gerry Wachovsky." Since when are senators elected to conduct vendettas against columnists at a school newspaper? Senators are elected for the purpose of serving their constituents, not to disregard them completely and go on a one-man war against a person they don't like. But I digress; this minor outburst by Ntuk is just one in a series of reasons that show why he is not the right candidate for the job. |
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| When campaigning, senators and other candidates will place signs at various locations on campus for the point of advertising themselves and getting votes. There are regulations that govern how much space has to be in between two candidates' signs, as one candidate cannot place a sign directly in front of another candidate's; signs promoting clubs, however, do not fall under these same rules. There is a location next to Brotman Hall that is referred to as the "turnaround" that serves as a very strategic signage place since there is so much foot traffic. How ironic that at the turnaround, before Spring Break, almost every candidates' signs were either obscured or completely blocked by signs placed by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), a campus organization that is led by Ntuk himself (never mind the fact that to read the NSBE signs, one would have to be standing in the middle of the three-lane street, since they are printed on standard paper with a font size that cannot be read from across the street). Even stranger is the fact that candidate for treasurer Zaira Tinoco's signs were not blocked or obscured at all by Ntuk's club's signs, most likely because she, Ntuk, and Joseph Desantis have declared an informal slate, or a group of several candidates running together. |
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| According to A.S.I.'s "Campaign Rules And Regulations," "A slate shall be defined as a group of candidates identifying themselves on the same ticket and conducting a joint campaign." In a March 26 email to me, Ntuk declared "[ZairaTinoco, Joseph Desantis, and I] are NOT a slate and never have stated that we were such an entity." Isn't it funny, then, how in the March 10 issue of the Daily 49er, Ntuk ran an advertisement asking students to come join him, Tinoco, and Desantis for beers at a local bar/restaurant, where the first 200 students would get a free brew? Despite the obvious moral questions offering free beer raises (What if a student were to drive home drunk because of beers that Ntuk gave him? Was Ntuk checking IDs at the door? How can Tinoco even offer beer in the first place, considering she is 20-years-old, and not even of legal drinking age?), it sure seemed that with that advertisement, Ntuk and the three "identified themselves on the same ticket" and sure as hell seem to be "conducting a joint campaign." After all, nothing says "Vote for me" better than "Here's a free beer...by the way, you know I'm running for office, right?" Is somebody (gasp) buying votes? Not to mention the fact that candidates are only allowed a certain number of flyers/advertisements, and running an advertisement in a newspaper with a circulation of over 10,000 would give them quite the unfair advantage. |
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| As a concerned student, I'm also curious about whether Ntuk has enough time to devote to the office that he is seeking. An ardent liberal activist, Ntuk claims to be "involved in over 30 student organizations across campus," is pursuing a major in chemical engineering and two minors in business and chemistry, and to top it all off, has a five-year old daughter at the ripe old age of 26 (clearly not the most responsible move). It doesn't seem like he would be able to fit over 25,000 students into his schedule, something that the job would entail. In his email to me, Ntuk also said that he has "received more than 20 endorsements from student organizations and departments thus far." Hmmm, I wonder if these endorsers actually know about this? I also must question the authenticity of that statement, seeing as how Ntuk won his college's election, along with Senator Asad Sultan, with a paltry 68 votes. In Ntuk's email to me he felt the need to remind me that the College of Engineering is one of the smallest colleges on campus, but I still must ask the following: how did a guy who received less than two-and-a-half percent of his respective college's votes suddenly get so many supporters? |
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| Allow me to remind you of a statement Ntuk made during the last Senate meeting: "I would never support Gerry Wachovsky." Well that's fine and dandy, but does the campus really want an A.S. president who would, essentially, rule with an authoritarian fist, someone who would immediately take action against anybody he disagrees with? Ntuk, who tries so hard to exude an aura of morality, told me in the email he sent to me that the reason he didn't vote for the Daily 49er's referendum proposal was because of its timing and "ill conceived" nature. "It wasn't because of your articles, which you have the right to express yourself just as any student on our campus." Really? Then why did Ntuk say at that Senate meeting when questioned about the referendum, "I would never support Gerry Wachovsky"? How's that for hypocrisy? |
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| In short, Ntuk denied the students the choice to vote on a referendum that would have decided whether the student-run campus media stays or goes. This is a preview of things to come, people. It is my sincere hope that the Campus Progressives and La Raza take this article into account when deciding whether to continue supporting Ntuk. Ntuk, who would like to be seen as the poster boy for morality, doesn't even know the meaning of the word, and you would be doing a disservice to yourself and this campus if you were to vote for him in April. |
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Copyright Gerry Wachovsky, 2005, and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Letters To The Editor Regarding This Article: |
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AS Presidential Candidate Apologizes For Misleading Student Population |
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(from April 5, 2005) |
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49er Debt Doesn't Justify Student Fees |
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(from April 6, 2005) |
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Rebuttal In Defense Of Presidential Candidate Ntuk |
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(from April 11, 2005) |
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Media Flawed, Lacks Even Representation Of Issues |
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(from April 11, 2005) |
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