From the $100,000 Steamboat statue to the $170,00 birthday bash, it would seem that ASUW is a little full of its own self-importance.
From conversations I have heard and comments made directly to me, I would be fairly confident in stating that the only reason our student senators want to spend big bucks on pointless frivolities that would have absolutely no lasting benefit for University of Wyoming students is to satisfy their own inflated egos.
ASUW senators have forgotten that UW students chose them as representatives. We expect a certain level of consideration when it comes to decisions that affect us, especially when it comes to our money.
I have been steaming about the Steamboat statue since the announcement was made last spring. We already have a Steamboat statue outside the Arena Auditorium. What purpose would another statue of a bucking horse serve other than a constant reminder that UW is grooming a crop of future politicians more full of themselves than Donald Trump?
So, ASUW is 100 years old this year. How many students really care? They want to spend $70,000 of what is basically our money on a concert with a big name “Top 40 hip-hop” artist. Granted the show would be free, but how many people would actually go to the AA for the show? I personally cannot stand hip-hop and would not be even slightly interested, even if they brought Tupac back from the dead.
The talk around campus is that nobody in ASUW bothered to ask the students who they would want. How did they decide on a hip-hop artist? Do they realize that hip-hop is the least popular musical genre among the students? Apparently, it did not occur to them to find out.
It would seem that ASUW has little, if any, interest in what the students want. I know I have no interest in another Steamboat on campus, and it seems completely wasteful to spend money on a show the majority of students have no interest in. From where I stand, it seems like ASUW is nothing but a chamber full of pompous young men and women playing at being politicians.
