Tony Garcia's co-host, Marty Andrade is a student at the University of
Minnesota. Marty is graduating if I read his weblog correctly.
I am not sure whether Tony Garcia is a student at the University or
not. He is not listed in the University Directory.
They co-host a radio show called: Race to the Right in St Cloud. This
weeks guests are Senator Michele Bachmann and Jim Knoblach.
More on Students for Family Values here:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/joel-flakes-resignation-letter-brian.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/is-students-for-family-values-front.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/students-for-family-values-catfight.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/more-on-sfv-cat-fight-marty-andrade.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2004/08/students-for-family-values-web-forum.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/unpleasantness-at-students-for-family.html
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/students-for-family-values-cfact-and.html
Gerry Rinehart--stupid or malicious
http://alwaysrightusuallycorrect.blogspot.com/2005/08/gerry-rinehart-stupid-or-malicious.html
MOBsters...conservatives on campus need your help. They need you to put A
LOT of constant pressure on Gerry Rinehart (Vice Provost, Office of Student
Affairs). His phone number is 612-626-1242 and his e-mail is
[EMAIL PROTECTED] He is willfully trying to kill all the conservative groups
on campus.
EY: This is not about conservatives. It's about an anti-gay group, the
Students for Family Values that gets Student Fees funding.
Tony Garcia continues:
Here is the background.
Gerry Rinehart is a part of the University of Minnesota administration who
oversees the Student Fees process. The Student Fees process is the annual
ritual where liberal students appoint fellow liberals and a few token
conservatives on committees to decide how much funding student groups will
get the following year via the theft known as Student Service Fees. These
fees are mandatory for each student.
Now the next thing that should be understood is that the University's fees
system is in conflict with Supreme Court rulings. Rinehart gets around this
fact with two tactics. The first is that by constantly "reviewing" the
process he claims that the University is actively trying to move into
compliance. This is a bald-faced lie because the system does not get any
substantive changes. The second tactic is to cut the funding of the groups
that would have standing to sue the University. No money means no lawyers.
No lawyers for the conservatives means that Rinehart can continue funding
the hate groups (La Raza, BSU, QSCC, etc) while eliminating all groups that
oppose his ideological stance.
EY: Oh, so the plan is to troll for reasons to sue the deep pocket
University. I'm not sure what BSU is. QSCC is Queer Student Cultural
Center. La Raza is a latino student group. It seems that the real
motivation to get "student groups" like Students for Family Values on
campus is to get standing to sue the deeppocket University - with the help
of Legal organizations like the Alliance Defense Fund. A frequent target
is non-discrimination policies (the suit by Marantha Christian Fellowship
was that type of suit - and the University settled). However the next
target will be biology professors who insist on teaching biology, and don't
allow students who want to spout off about creationism to hijack the class.
Tony Garcia continues:
Rinehart decided AFTER most of the student body left for the summer and
before the summer sessions started that he would review the process again
this year. The truth is that the conservatives actually made some progress
in cutting fees and Rinehart actually had to overrule some committee
determinations. As you will in a moment this is important. He claims to
have no knowledge on the specifics of various rulings that he overturned
though he does overturn the funding recommendations.
Today I had a conversation with Gerry. Everyone needs to understand that
the conversation shows the abject diregard Gerry has for any sense of
equality...and he knows he can get away with it because NOONE puts any
presurre on him. Parents, media and legislators fail in this regard.
Here is the summary of the conversation.
I called Gerry Rinehart about the student fees overhaul committee that he
is running. The conversation was enlightening. All this time I was not
certain if the administration was intentionally shutting conservatives out
or if they really just were that stupid. Today I know. Rinehart is
maliciously shutting out conservatives. The conversation went basically
along these lines.
1) I told him that there is concern that the already biased process is
going to become worse for conservative. He said that the process is not
broken and only needs to be tweaked.
2) As determined by a group of ideologically bent people? He said that the
people on the committee are representative of the student groups.
3) The only student group representative is a member of La Raza...where is
the conservative representation? Was that intentional? He said that the
members of the committee are representative of the student groups in whole
4) If the process is not in need of an overhaul then it is intentional that
conservative groups get shut out of the process both in getting on the
committee and in getting equal amounts of funding as other groups. He said
that everyone is treated equally.
5) Besides Students for Family Values (SFV) can you name another group that
suffered around 75% cuts? He said he thinks it was because they were
failing in meeting various standards.
6) What standards? Can I view them? He said he does not know what they are
but that the committee is giving training on those standards.
7) How can you say the system is acceptable when you do not know the
standards? He said that the committee knows the standards.
8) But if you overturn decisions shouldn't you know what standards were not
met? I review the recommendations from the committee.
9) So what standards could be in place that would allow a group to get an
increase in funding despite repeated embezzlement, another gets an increase
even though they never submitted any paperwork in time, meanwhile 100% of
the conservative groups get shut out or substantial cuts. (I did not
mention the group that runs a student dating service with the fudning.) He
said that SFV was cut because they were harrassing other groups. I told him
that SFV was vindicated because the charges had no merit. He said he did
not know about that. I asked how could he feel comfortable cut conservative
groups based on fabricated information. He said he cannot answer that.
EY: I've looked at these student groups. There's quite an overlap on
officers for Campus Republicans and Students for Family Values. I document
that here:
There was a grievance filed by the Women's Student Activist Collective
against SFV. It was probably for this:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/students-for-family-values-and-cfact.html
There's mention of a WSAC takeover in these emails by Campus Republicans
President, Tom Meyer.
There's lots of overlap between the groups. Marty Andrade is the former
president of SFV, and is an officer with Campus Republicans. I document
that here.
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/02/students-for-family-values-cfact-and.html
Tony Garcia's alert continues:
10) In essence he is making decisions to cut programs while not knowing the
full details of accusations, not understanding the standards that groups
are supposed to be judged against and all biased against a viewpoint in
particular. He said the standards for a group to maintain funding is a very
complicated process to review.
11) What are the objective criteria that a group is given at the beginning
of each year that they need to meet? He said there are none.
At this point Gerry said that my questions were too hostile and that he has
"real things to deal with instead". I told him that I
understand..."answering tough questions about a broken system that you
perpetuate is difficult."
He replied that my words are too harsh...I cut him off with, "like your
revered committee members calling conservative groups a 'cancer' to the
campus to justify cutting their funding. Sounds like the pot calling the
kettle."
...he hung up.
Gerry knows that he is maliciously squeezing out the conservative viewpoint
from equal access to funding, equal access to office space and equal access
to the Student Fees Committee. But noone puts any pressure on him so it is
not changing.
posted by Race To The Right
It will be interesting to see how this develops.
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
"You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on
freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave
the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the
world is full of idiots, and probably always will be." --Article II of the
Bill of Non-Rights.
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