Dear Students,

I write this letter because I don’t want any of you to misinterpret the colorful language the Students’ Party presents or the colorful fliers and candy it might hand out come election time. In a recent opinion column (“Students’ Party Seeks Members for Election,” Daily Nexus, March 5), the Students’ Party authors’ discuss several of the “successful” actions it has accomplished. They also note that the Students’ Party has been in existence for three years. What they have failed to tell you is what happened to the Student Action Coalition.

SAC, or what many have deemed “Students Advocating Communism,” was made up of several of the authors in that column as well as a few current members of the Students’ Party. What has SAC successfully accomplished? I seem to recall nearly 300 Daily Nexus newspapers defaced by stamps bearing the SAC logo during election time and the SAC party paid the Nexus $299 (“SAC Pays Nexus for Vandalized Papers,” Daily Nexus, May 9, 2005). I also remember allegations that Associated Students’ coffee was provided by SAC a full week before campaigning and that campaign posters were illegally posted in the Davidson Library (“Judicial Council Declines to Fine SAC Candidates,” Daily Nexus, May 20, 2005). This was in direct violation of using A.S. materials for campaigning. The list of direct and indirect violations by SAC would make congress look like saints.

Lobbying for lower student fees is one of the accomplishments the authors state for Students’ Party. Yet they seem to have forgotten that they spent at least a month lobbying to increase your student lock-in fees by almost $400 a year with the recently passed Students’ Initiative (“Initiative Passes by Narrow Vote,” Daily Nexus, Oct. 27, 2006).

Students’ Party also claims that 26 of 31 total A.S. legislative documents were authored by Students’ Party candidates. What about the other documents they discussed at the Legislative Council meetings, like the one that focused on grammar and how it is a hindering block for minorities (“Leggies Hear Resignation, Resolutions,” Daily Nexus, Nov. 2, 2006)? It would have made legislative documents resemble something more along the lines of a high school dropout’s paper. Or how about the document that tried to remove the Daily Nexus’ right to freedom of speech (“A.S. Votes to Restrict Nexus’ Assets,” Daily Nexus, Jan. 18)?

What disgusts me is that several A.S. members worked hard to build trust in and the name of Students’ Party. I was an active supporter of the Students’ Party its first year because I knew that the people who originally founded it sought to change Associated Students. Then, out of nowhere, SAC took over Students’ Party the following year. Open People’s Party was founded by several of the same members that originally founded Students’ Party. Their mission is to change A.S. for the better and to concern themselves not with politics, but with what is relevant to the campus and to the student.

So do you want to vote for a party that determines its success every time it challenges a conservative speaker or makes it on Bill O’Reilly because it wants to get rid of military recruiters? Or do you want a party, like OPP – shameless plug – that actually cares about the students?

Would you be fooled if the Republican Party took up the donkey mascot? Don’t be fooled, because in the end, the Students’ Party is the same old anvil and sickle S.A.C.

P.S. Chaz Whatley and Kelly Burns: I still love you guys and support you two, but can you make it easy for current students and join OPP?