UMass Amherst Student Government messing with press censorship

This is news from FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education on the actions of the UMass Amherst Student Government regarding the stealing and censorship of a conversative student newspaper.

If these actions are true, the student government at UMass Amherst ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Apparently, it all started with the latest edition of The Minuteman, a conservative student newspaper. The edition criticized the Student Bridges organization, which is recognized and funded by the Student Government Association via the mandatory student activity fee, on their budget and their funding practices.

The Student Bridges claims to be a college prep pathway and tutoring program for low-income and minority children. It has been in operation since 2006, but commands a large budget amounting to $172,000. The Minuteman did an analysis of financial expenditure logs obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and found questionable items and alleges that Student Bridges is not providing satisfactory evidence to justify their large budget. It also questioned the leadership of the organization Director, Vanessa Snow.

As a sign of Student Bridges hiding something, the Student Bridges spokesman and SGA Senator Ben Thompson would not discuss the article unless there was "private legal counsel" present.

Obviously, the latest edition would be controversial. As you can see at the video below, you can see Vanessa Snow snatching the stack of Minuteman papers from the student's hands.

As if the theft was not enough, the UMass Amherst Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution demanding that The Silent Majority, the student organization that publishes The Minuteman, publicly apologize to Vanessa Snow for its criticism of her, or else face loss of recognition by the SGA, which would shut down both the organization and the paper.

But what happened next shows that the reputation of this SGA is tainted and their trust questionable.

Student senator Derek Khanna tried to place a resolution on the SGA agenda that would have rescinded the SGA's unconstitutional decree of press censorship. SGA Senate Speaker Shaun Robinson not only refused to hear Khanna's resolution but reportedly threw it on the floor, soon calling the police to eject Khanna from the SGA meeting after Khanna insisted that he be heard. This occurred despite the fact that many Senators wanted to debate the resolution.

Read his account of what happened

Take a look at his proposed resolution

It is clear that there are potential conflicts of interest in the SGA and Student Bridges. The Director, Vanessa Snow, is also a member of the SGA. Did she vote on the passed resolution? Was it proper? What is the relationship between the current leadership of SGA and the Student Bridges group?

These things must be publicly released to the UMass Amherst student body. They must know if the actions of the SGA represent the interests of the UMass student body, and whether Student Bridges has improper influence on the SGA leadership.