Spring Break
OP-ED: Standing up against the tyranny of Sinha
by Michael Goldman
Op-Ed | 11/6/07
Posted online at 2:46 AM EST on 11/6/07
It was last spring at one of the last Student Union Senate meetings of President Alison Schwartzbaum's '08 term that we spun off into pairs and reviewed what we had accomplished over the last semester.
I had passionately pursued the Brookline Bus project, culminating in an actual working bus to Brookline's Coolidge Corner last spring. In doing so, I had made a name for myself as one of the few members of the Union who followed through on promises and got things done.
I was fortunate enough to be paired with my dear friend, then Vice President Aaron Gaynor '07. All of the items on his list were small, mundane things. He was one of those individuals who "kept the trains running on time." In so doing, he made the Union work.
I remember telling Gaynor that next year, I wanted to be like him. Gone were the days when, as a young senator on the rise, I attempted to change the campus forever. I had fallen in love with the Union, even though I had always been a bit of an outsider. I was willing to commit a year of my life to keep it running. To do the small things that a Secretary does; to send e-mails, to buy staplers and to run elections.
Fate did not allow me to shrink into the role I had imagined for myself. With eight fateful words-"You don't have to worry about your friend"-everything changed.
On this small charge, President Shreeya Sinha '09 launched her attempted coup. I was not alone, but was in strong opposition to some of her most extreme abuses. Most notably, I had staunchly opposed her move to overturn the executive board appointments that we had come to in consensus with Vice President Alex Braver '09 and Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 in favor of her own hastily conceived alternatives.
Indeed, Sinha specifically told me on the eve of impeachment that the reason she would accept no result other than my impeachment or resignation was that "you haven't proven yourself to be a friend of the E-board because you have taken controversial positions on every issue we've dealt with." Dissent, in Sinha's E-board, is an impeachable offense.
I had passionately pursued the Brookline Bus project, culminating in an actual working bus to Brookline's Coolidge Corner last spring. In doing so, I had made a name for myself as one of the few members of the Union who followed through on promises and got things done.
I was fortunate enough to be paired with my dear friend, then Vice President Aaron Gaynor '07. All of the items on his list were small, mundane things. He was one of those individuals who "kept the trains running on time." In so doing, he made the Union work.
I remember telling Gaynor that next year, I wanted to be like him. Gone were the days when, as a young senator on the rise, I attempted to change the campus forever. I had fallen in love with the Union, even though I had always been a bit of an outsider. I was willing to commit a year of my life to keep it running. To do the small things that a Secretary does; to send e-mails, to buy staplers and to run elections.
Fate did not allow me to shrink into the role I had imagined for myself. With eight fateful words-"You don't have to worry about your friend"-everything changed.
On this small charge, President Shreeya Sinha '09 launched her attempted coup. I was not alone, but was in strong opposition to some of her most extreme abuses. Most notably, I had staunchly opposed her move to overturn the executive board appointments that we had come to in consensus with Vice President Alex Braver '09 and Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 in favor of her own hastily conceived alternatives.
Indeed, Sinha specifically told me on the eve of impeachment that the reason she would accept no result other than my impeachment or resignation was that "you haven't proven yourself to be a friend of the E-board because you have taken controversial positions on every issue we've dealt with." Dissent, in Sinha's E-board, is an impeachable offense.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 10
Gike Moldman
posted 11/06/07 @ 6:26 PM EST
Ya, know Mike, it really does suck that Shreeya wouldn't go out with you, but I really don't think that this is the appropriate way to deal with that. (Continued…)
Sarah Silverman
posted 11/07/07 @ 12:14 AM EST
Mike Goldman clearly doesn't have a life. If he would just confess and say that he truly does love Shreeya and the Union, this would be all over it. Goldman is a coward. (Continued…)
Spike, '01
posted 11/07/07 @ 4:11 PM EST
Blech. This is the kind of nonsense that makes the Justice these days? I can see next week's editorial, "OMG did you SEE the shoes Mike wore with his jacket? Hello, 1997!" Get over yourselves, and keep this garbage to LiveJournal where it belongs. (Continued…)
Adam Schwartzbaum
posted 11/08/07 @ 4:58 PM EST
oy vey. Just when you thought it was all settled, Goldman calls Gravity's publication of one the most offensively racist thing I have ever seen on Brandeis campus an issue of free speech that was blown out of proportion. (Continued…)
Mike's Marbles (where are they?)
posted 11/08/07 @ 5:48 PM EST
Holy cow, this letter is one of the most entertaining things I've ever read. Mike has completely lost his mind! If this same sort of nonsensical ranting is what we can expect from his upcoming Hoot column I'm stoked!
Brenda Stone
posted 11/08/07 @ 10:08 PM EST
It is amazing what a bruised ego will bring a person down to. Goldman shames Brandeis in his slander, petty reasoning and shameless acceptance of racism on campus. (Continued…)
Alan Royals
posted 11/09/07 @ 1:23 AM EST
Correction- Goldman was never impeached.
As for some of the personal attacks against Mr. Goldman in this discussion- simply disgusting. The issues on which Goldman can be debated are not lacking, and so these petty attacks on his character are reflections of ignorance, immaturity, or perhaps both. (Continued…)
Bart Schimel
posted 1/09/08 @ 3:33 AM EST
Alan Royals, you're last comment was merely full of garbage. I'm not surprised, as most of them are quite insensitive and very offensive.
Honestly, I strongly feel that members of Senate should have acted on Mike Goldman's impeachment immediately after the Union Judiciary oversaw the case. (Continued…)
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