Some well-played investigative work by Kel Munger turns up different text on the English-language and Russian-language versions of an information card being passed out to ARC students urging them to vote No on the proposed recall of 9 ARC Student Association officers. The board passed a resolution in support of Proposition 8 on the November ballot, which inserts a hetero-only marriage definition into the California Constitution. Kel has some great posts up about the scandal.
My initial reaction was that a recall was a bit of an anti-democratic play from a group advocating for treating people with fairness, as no rule-breaking or misdeeds are alleged on the part of the officers as far as I know. But these officers are probably elected to terms of less than a year, and letting democracy do its thing and voting them out after their term would be pointless. Who would have ever thought that American River College would become a hotbed of democracy in action?
The Sac Rag 
Did anyone link to this besides me? Is it a joke? I’m serious. If not it is beyond awful.
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I assume it is real… look at the image on the SNOG post, the second word will jump out to you as *probably* reading “homosexuals.” Of course it could say “walruses.” Which would be just as incendiary.
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This kind of crap should be in the Bee (unless I missed it this morning?) instead of the stupid articles they are publishing in their new format which consist of basically fluff pieces. In my opinion, of course. I mean why is no one covering this? Sorry, this post just heated me up!
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I’m a student at ARC and actually, there was a boat-load of corruption committed at the hands of these nine individuals. Three of them used anti-gay statements in their campaigning, going so far as to use a photograph of a transgender student. Also, after several member had been dismissed from the student council, they were reinstated by their friend, the president, without going through any processes such as voting or presenting an argument before some sort of committee. In fact, the ethics committee was disbanded, I believe due to “lack of funding” (also a bunch of bs), so now the members of the council have no oversight, no accountability and are free to do whatever the **** they please.
I think the point here is that Prop. 8 is an issue that everyone can vote on in November. ARC is an educational institution with students of varying ideals. This is not the forum for religious propaganda. It inherently divides the student body, and more specifically, discriminates against GLBT students by having a student council, and therefore institution, position that they are somehow not equal and do not deserve the same rights as heterosexuals. This is not the place for these kind of politics, and I am, quite frankly, disgusted with the administration for allowing it.
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Essentialy the ARC campus was hijacked by the student council because the student body allowed it to happen. The student council was voted in by only 300 student voters out of over 37,000 students enrolled at ARC. Some students think that voting for the student council is not a big deal and “who cares?” This is proof that it is important to vote!! Whether it be in an election at school or the national election. The members of the council are very smart politicians. But do you think that they thought of this whole thing on their own. No way! They are backed by groups whose agenda is to disrupt liberal college campuses in just this way. I came on here looking to see if the results of the recall election were in, but found this. Does anyone know the results of the recall yet??
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Jo, expect an announcement today. I am in contact with ARC administration on this, so I’ll try to pass on the info as soon as it is made publicly available.
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jane: thanks for the info. It does sound like there has been a lot of turmoil at ARC with folks being removed, reinstated, conflicts of interest on both sides, etc. Crazy times at the ARC.
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The GLBT community discriminates against the bigamists. Bunch of hypocritical bigots. Who are you to tell me that your behavoir is any better than mine, when he and she and she (or he/he/she or he/he/he or she/she/she) are all consenting and loving adults?
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TS, I do agree that all conseting and loving adults should obviously have the same rights but I don’t think the GLBT community is seriously on a mission to tackle bigamy as an issue. Seriously now.
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The recall effort failed. The interesting news, to me, is that more than 10 times the number of students voted on this issue than voted in the original election to vote the student council into office.
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The interesting news, to me, is that the Bee’s story on this finally showed up this morning and the LAST sentence has the tidbit on the translation of the Russian-language cards. They couldn’t have published this a bit earlier?
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Very true. Seems like that should be a bigger issue. I wonder if the Bee did any confirmation on this or simply took the word of the interviewee.
The whole issue may seem like “small potatoes” as it is petty JC politics, but students specifically making anti-gay attacks in a foreign language to try and hide it is pretty damn disgusting. They should have had the guts to present their true motivations to all potential voters. Cowards.
ARC administration should speak out against this.
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Stickie, you said it perfectly! I am now going to shut up about this I think. I’m sure everyone is sick of me. I am.
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I wonder if that 9% turnout figure is realistic. I have been taking classes at CRC and FLC for almost 4 years, but I would never think of voting in a student election there. I bet 39,000 includes all enrolled students, and that the number of full time students is much smaller. I’m going to look into this. Also I’m going to look into whether I am eligible to run for student body president of Folsom Lake College.
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DMZ, if you check the California Post Secondary Education Commission reports, they report that “full-time enrollment” at ARC is just shy of 13,100 in 2007. That means that they took 12 units.
However, if you look at a more detailed report (available for 2006, not 2007), it says that @7000 are full-time, @19,000 are part time, and @6000 are unknown.
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Please to enjoy the American River News:
“Our campus is made up of a fairly conservative, Christian student body; our vote to endorse Prop 8 was simply a reflection of the attitude of the majority of our studentsâ€Â, said Vladimir Musorivschi, a Student Representative who was targeted in the failed recall effort.
With around 3500 students voting (about 7x the number of students voting in the last election) the 9 students targeted for recall won between 200-300 more votes (6-9% points ahead). The Council members will retain their position on the Student Council and plan to continue to address issues such as parking and lowering textbook prices.
Curiouser and curiouser.
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That blog is (sadly) hilarious. Apparently, the only issue facing ARC is a fight between the “Christian Community” and the “GLTQ Community”. And, gee, I wonder which side created the blog.
Also interesting, I have not seen those “Yes on 8” signs before that claim that Proposition 8 will protect the rights of parents. I wonder what their spin is on that one.
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but students specifically making anti-gay attacks in a foreign language to try and hide it is pretty damn disgusting. They should have had the guts to present their true motivations to all potential voters. Cowards.
Yeah- Anything “translated” from English should be translated back again too, for all to see:
e.g.; DMV signs:
This Line for New License [English]
^$%!&#GVDR!%$#@&#H &#!) [Hmong]
(In the area to stand not old renew many happy driving paper- English double check translation provided by Nails R Us Salons)
Kkertunater Gruucherkaak Staanden [Dutch]
(License Location Stand Here- English double check translation provided by California’s Chocolate Manufacturers)
OOwalluh Neerdgfhstewu Sacatchwann Cherokee [Native American]
(Drive evil white man’s wheeled horse permission slips obtain here- English double check translation provided by Little Mickeys)
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