Message board

[MikeG]

You might be wondering why I haven't posted until today on this message board. That is because I just found out about it. It was first mentioned to me at sandblast, but the web address was not mentioned. Next it was mentioned to me on Friday but I got the web address wrong and had not thought about it again until I got Tacky's tidbits tonight (this is a third semester newsletter sent out by the class rep in which this forum was briefly mentioned.) I hope I have answered your questions if you have anymore please email me and I will answer them if I can.
Thank you,
Michael Giglio

[cmbtdoc]

Mike,

Just one quick and simple question: What exactly is wrong with the current Constitution that you and Okadigwe find it is absolutely necessary that the charter be CHANGED?

tHIS is an honest question. Maybe you guys have a valid reason. Tell us students. Is it NOT pro-student? Maybe you can just AMMEND some of the provisions. This would be less drastic, compared to a total revamp of the charter.

The US Constitution is NOT re-written EVERYTIME we have a new administration. That is why our nation is stable - it is guided by the one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, charters in the world.

We students are WAITING for you answer.

[MikeG]

Mike,

Just one quick and simple question: What exactly is wrong with the current Constitution that you and Okadigwe find it is absolutely necessary that the charter be CHANGED?

tHIS is an honest question. Maybe you guys have a valid reason. Tell us students. Is it NOT pro-student? Maybe you can just AMMEND some of the provisions. This would be less drastic, compared to a total revamp of the charter.

The US Constitution is NOT re-written EVERYTIME we have a new administration. That is why our nation is stable - it is guided by the one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, charters in the world.

We students are WAITING for you answer.

The current constitution has plenty of problems with it. Just to name a few, it does not specify the checks and balences between the branches of government and it contradicts itself in many areas. It provides specific dates for things to happen, which if it doesn't happen at that date and time we are failing to uphold our constitution. It also references committees that never existed or exist now. This would be a entire lecture and I would have to go through the entire old constitution point by point explaining it to you. I am willing to do that but the fastest way to appreciate the need for a new constitution is to look at the old one yourself. There is a copy behind the desk in the library and in the SGA office in my mailbox. Just ask for it, it is a quick 10 minute read. The need is readily apparent. If you are still not convinced I will be happy to sit down with you and we can go over it point by point togeather.
In referance to the constitution not changing, the current constitution was written in 2000 and enacted in 2001. A constitution was written last semester because the need was apparent to them too, but it did not pass due to no minutes existed for the meeting when it was approved, and the administration would not recognise it. It was much better then the one we have now, but it was hurried and we could probably have ammended it, but it would take alot more time to do it right then to just start over. In fact, the old constitution does not even state a way to amend it so I am not sure amending it would be legal, that is something that was brought up at the beginning of the constitutional group, but I do not recall the answer of the constitutional lawyer that is the co-chair of the committee. I hope this clears up some of your concerns. I think you will see quite a diference when the rough draft of the new constitution is put up on the g-drive for the students to view and ask questions before it goes to the senate for voting on. Thank you for your questions. If you have anymore concerns please post anouther messege or email me directly at michaelgiglio@rossmed.edu.dm.

[MD2B2006]

As far as the legality of amending the current constitution goes, try THIS on for size, Mikey....

If your rationale for re-writing the constitution is that the current one has no provisions for amendments, therefore it may be illegal, then show me the provision in the current constitution where it states you can scrap the curent one and re-write a new one?

Oh wait, you will claim that the new one will have to be approved by the Senate before it goes into effect. Oh THANK YOU oh gracious one for actually acknowledging us lowly serfs!!! You will ACTUALLY ALLOW us to SEE this wonderous creation of yours??? I feel so blessed!!

I must then ask, if it is acceptable to re-write a constitution and put it into effect via a Senate vote, then why is it NOT acceptable to amend the current constitution and put it into effect the same way??? Seems logical to me. Oh wait, I forgot, Mikey wants to leave HIS legacy much like a dog leaves his legacy on a fire hydrant.

Mike, you are a fool, and completely transparent. You are also incredibly dense if you think people can't see what your obvious intentions are in re-writing the constitution or any of your other "achievements." You have an agenda, and that agenda surrounds one thing.....yourself.

Heed the message your fellow elected officials gave you last night. Remember, there were fewer that had confidence in your abilities than not. You hung on to your position by a thread. Don't think for a minute you are infallible and worthy of our worship.

P.S. No need to have a point by point discussion of the current constitution. I can read it on my own, and I don't care to hear your involuted self-centered interpretation of the document. Just give me the section reference. Oh wait, you won't be able to b/c the reference does not exist!!

[ROSSGIRLMD]

Maybe you and the humble servant should start studying medicine and stop worrying about constitiution and stuff like that..just a thought. I don't think Ross currently has a law school here on the island although it seems you guys are more interested in that than you are in studying medicine...if you keep wasting so much time doing this stuff you will be here much longer than you think (if you finish at all)...stop wasting all of your time and stop trying to leave a legacy by bothering all of us who know why were are here..now I will go check my ross email and see how many bothersome emails you and the humble servant have sent me!!

We should start a do not email list here (like the do not call list in the states) to prevent all of the **it you guys send out!

[MikeG]

Maybe you and the humble servant should start studying medicine and stop worrying about constitiution and stuff like that..just a thought. I don't think Ross currently has a law school here on the island although it seems you guys are more interested in that than you are in studying medicine...if you keep wasting so much time doing this stuff you will be here much longer than you think (if you finish at all)...stop wasting all of your time and stop trying to leave a legacy by bothering all of us who know why were are here..now I will go check my ross email and see how many bothersome emails you and the humble servant have sent me!!

We should start a do not email list here (like the do not call list in the states) to prevent all of the **it you guys send out!

I appreciate your concerns for my grades and wellbeing, however, I am doing just fine this semester so far and hopefully it will continue. Thank you.
Michael Giglio

[MD2B2006]

MikeG, or, better known as Purveyor of Slanderous Gossip:

MikeG wrote:
am willing to supply the truth, however, there are a few commets which are generally hurtful to me. These comments which would be funny if the accusations weren't so serious are compleatly untrue. Anyone who knows me knows that there is no way I am capable of these things and I resent them being said.
Mike Giglio

Could you please provide a complete list of these accusations that you say are "compleatly [sic] untrue?"

Thank you

A Concerned Student

[MikeG]

In the interest of saving time, and to answer your question, I would like to refer you to the strings directly before the quote you took. Those strings were the ones to which I was refering.
In the future if you could post only one of the messege boards with the same question, then I will not have to waste time giving the same answer in all of those messege boards.
In addition, if I did not know better and did not have the utmost respect for you and all of my constituents then I might think that you, by having me answer your question, were trying to get me to propagate those same hurtful rumors. Since I do respect you and all of my constituents I choose not to believe that was your intention.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your time, you seem to be a very conserned constituent, and I thank you for your contributions.
Michael Giglio

[radiohead]

MikeG....we all make mistakes when typing...but dude...you are in government...thats right....people lurve to hate you...."conserned"?...c'mon friend...S is on a whole different row than c on a keyboard. What excuse do you have other than that you thought it should be there? If you are conserned..well then thats justs andy..I mean candy...I mean Dandy..d##n it!..I mean Dandy!! Oh yeah..by the way..I am 'concerned' and will be running for SGA. Is that how you spell that?...SGA? hehehehehehe.... :twisted:

[Cuando2]

I'd agree with the above poster...it seems like you guys are immersed in this constitution and legal lingo garbage. I really wonder if all this effort is worth anything to most of us. I just come to school to go to class, maybe have a meal, do some banking, and then back home. I study on campus occasionally. A lot of stuff you are immersed within seems useless to me, the average student. Most students I know do what I do, which is, go to class, have a meal or two, some banking, gym, study in library or go home. Why not look at these daily activities of students, and then hear-out the concerns students have about these activities. perhaps a box could be setup where studetns can randomly deposit questions or concerns about their daily campus life, and you guys could address these changes. Wasn't it the SGA board from last semester that installed lights on banana trail? That was great (even though I dont live on B.Trail)...things like this are what I would expect, not so much focus on some constitution the majority of students dont even know exists, or clean-up campaigns that have nothing to do with students. Clean-up campaigns work when students belong to a community...most students are down here for a little over a year and are gone forever (everyone hears fellow students talking about how glorious that last flight out of here will be). All we ask is that the SGA board recognize the average student's life here, recognize their daily patterns and activities, and try to perfect this in any way possible.

[MikeG]

To answer the concerns of the last two strings. First of all, yes my spelling is terrible, I would like to appoligise for it. I will try to be more careful in the future, but I have very little time this semester and spell check is just one more added step.
In terms of students daily life and the constitution, the constitution does not effect the job of the SGA. Of the entire SGA only I am working on it so far. I am not doing it alone though, volenteer representitives from every class have been helping out. The constitution takes only about six hours of my time a week (initially it took longer). However, I work on SGA activities and the betterment of student life from three every day to six every day, at the very least.
Some of the issues we have raised is equiptment in the gym, the water fountians, SGA lounge equiptment, lights on banana trail, and SGA movie nights. Just because you haven't seen results yet does not mean that we are not hard at work on these issues. Things out of our control have been holding up our projects, for instance, the construction going on around campus is holding up some of these repairs and activities, like SGA movie night. ( they combined 3A and 3 B leaving only 3A) We had reserved 3B the entire semester and ISA had reserved 3A for their movies thus we did not have the ability to show movies. Also the plummer had been sick the last week so the water fountains could not be repaired. The ones that can not be repaired are going to be replaced. As for the bananna trail we are still working on that one, it is a complex situation though.
In addition to this we can access our funds now so you will see alot more of SGA presence on campus now as well. I hope this helps. Thank you for your concerns.

Mike Giglio

[Cuando2]

You did not address my concern regarding the suggestions box...things that students expect the SGA to take action on. You also failed to address my concern regarding the clean-up project. Judging from the lack of popularity of this project, does the SGA not question whether it is in the student's best interest to have conducted such a project? In other words, was it mostly an idea that stemmed from the SGA members itself (a particular SGA member thought it was a good idea and decided to put it into action) or was this a request from a large number of students that such a project should be undertaken. I know a lot of people complain about fountains not working, gym concerns, SGA lounge concerns...but I never heard anyone talkign about how there should be a cleanup project. So how come we saw the results of the cleanup project before other things like the water fountains and SGA lounge things? Also, did you guys really think half of the student body would show up for this project (seeing that 500 T-shirts were ordered, and approximately 1000 students are present here)? I would seriously call this poor planning. I used to be really happy to hear advancements such as lights on B.Trail and such, but I hear nothing this semester except for no food at sandblast and all this constituational ammendment meetings **. What would you say is the next accomplishment of the SGA that the students can expect (fixed fountains, lights on B.Trail going up, clean-up project part 2 in effect, etc.)?

[Flygirl]

This is totally off the subject...
Just curious, how did you get that cool little man dancing on your screen? How can I insert something. I don't know how to do that.. Thanks Flygirl

[md1979]

I agree with Cuando2. This is exactly what I have been trying to tell HRH and Mike but they don't seemed to be concerned about the student body. All that matters to these guys is themselves and nothing else. The clean project was an idea of an overzealous president who wants to create a new activity which will be linked with his name everytime its carried out. Well you know what, a humble president should be more concerned with student's concerns like lights for our safety, equipment in the SGA lounge and the gym stuff. Yet these guys don't seem concerned about any of this at all. I have served in many executives board and I have never seen such a disorganized and self centered president and vp. It is a shame that the students decided to elect these goof balls to office and I bet that Mike is probably going to be running for president b/c vp position was just a steping stone for the prez position just like HRH did.
I don't think many people went to the SGA speeches but if they had heard HRH speak, that would have been enough for them to not vote for him. He never even attended any SGA meeting last semester. That just shows how much concern he has for the student body. It is very disturbing that these kinds of people want to become doctors because they no have morals, ethics or respect for people. They only care about themselves and thats it.

[MikeG]

You did not address my concern regarding the suggestions box...things that students expect the SGA to take action on. You also failed to address my concern regarding the clean-up project. Judging from the lack of popularity of this project, does the SGA not question whether it is in the student's best interest to have conducted such a project? In other words, was it mostly an idea that stemmed from the SGA members itself (a particular SGA member thought it was a good idea and decided to put it into action) or was this a request from a large number of students that such a project should be undertaken. I know a lot of people complain about fountains not working, gym concerns, SGA lounge concerns...but I never heard anyone talkign about how there should be a cleanup project. So how come we saw the results of the cleanup project before other things like the water fountains and SGA lounge things? Also, did you guys really think half of the student body would show up for this project (seeing that 500 T-shirts were ordered, and approximately 1000 students are present here)? I would seriously call this poor planning. I used to be really happy to hear advancements such as lights on B.Trail and such, but I hear nothing this semester except for no food at sandblast and all this constituational ammendment meetings **. What would you say is the next accomplishment of the SGA that the students can expect (fixed fountains, lights on B.Trail going up, clean-up project part 2 in effect, etc.)?

I will try to address all of your concerns. First of all there has always been a SGA suggestion box in the SGA lounge, it is hardly used though.
Secondly, the SGA clean up campaign was partly environmental and partly political. The political aspect was so that we may open up avenues of support for things like lights on the banana trails, airport and transportation issues, from the portsmouth mayor and so forth. While at one point the campaign was well planned, the budget issues and other SGA issues were more pressing, thus the campaign had to be postponed and ultimatly thrown back together at the last minute resulting in the poor turnout. In answer to your question, it was Cyrils idea, he planned it, because he had promised to do this when he was running for election. It was suported by the school and the community.
I participated in this cleanup and what it lacked in numbers we made up for in work and determination. I was surprised at how much of a diffrence we actually made on our treck from Ross to portsmouth picking up trash. It was a three hour tour, all told, with the speech from the Honorable Justice Douglas included. In regards to the number of people that we thought would go, yes 500 was VERY optomistic I thought ( I do not know if this was the planned number as the buying of the T-shirts was a communication mistake, which the president paid for out of his own pocket), but this was initially planned at the beginning of the semseter, teachers were going to be asked to be involved as well as locals, as it happened we had a couple of locals volenteer to help.
Water fountians were brought up with the administration and the plummers. We cannot as SGA, do anything about them except make the needs of the students known. As for the SGA lounge concerns, we had no budget and could not pay for any improvments until the budget was approved by the joint session (ie officers, class reps, honor reps and grievence reps). (This was not for lack of trying as there was three joint session meetings to pass the budget before it was passed.)
Before I answer "what can be expected in the future from SGA" I want to institute a disclaimer. The following things I am working on may or may not happen. First while I have gathered or am gathering information on these activities, I then have to present them to the joint session which meets this week, then they can happen. Personally, I am working on SGA movie nights (in classroom six, if we can get permission. The powers that be are considering it.), a after mini 2 party with ISA, the talent show which ISA wants to help sponcer as well, the second sandblast (with food now that we can spend money) and the constitution. The constitution is not taking time away from the SGA, just from me and the convention members which are not SGA members. Soon though we will have to look at it in a joint session meeting where it will be approved.
There are other things in the works but those are just the things that I am working on personally. I do not want to answer for anyone else. Thank you for your time. I hope this helps answer to your concerns.
Michael Giglio

[MikeG]

You did not address my concern regarding the suggestions box...things that students expect the SGA to take action on. You also failed to address my concern regarding the clean-up project. Judging from the lack of popularity of this project, does the SGA not question whether it is in the student's best interest to have conducted such a project? In other words, was it mostly an idea that stemmed from the SGA members itself (a particular SGA member thought it was a good idea and decided to put it into action) or was this a request from a large number of students that such a project should be undertaken. I know a lot of people complain about fountains not working, gym concerns, SGA lounge concerns...but I never heard anyone talkign about how there should be a cleanup project. So how come we saw the results of the cleanup project before other things like the water fountains and SGA lounge things? Also, did you guys really think half of the student body would show up for this project (seeing that 500 T-shirts were ordered, and approximately 1000 students are present here)? I would seriously call this poor planning. I used to be really happy to hear advancements such as lights on B.Trail and such, but I hear nothing this semester except for no food at sandblast and all this constituational ammendment meetings **. What would you say is the next accomplishment of the SGA that the students can expect (fixed fountains, lights on B.Trail going up, clean-up project part 2 in effect, etc.)?

I will try to address all of your concerns. First of all there has always been a SGA suggestion box in the SGA lounge, it is hardly used though.
Secondly, the SGA clean up campaign was partly environmental and partly political. The political aspect was so that we may open up avenues of support for things like lights on the banana trails, airport and transportation issues, from the portsmouth mayor and so forth. While at one point the campaign was well planned, the budget issues and other SGA issues were more pressing, thus the campaign had to be postponed and ultimatly thrown back together at the last minute resulting in the poor turnout. In answer to your question, it was Cyrils idea, he planned it, because he had promised to do this when he was running for election. It was suported by the school and the community.
I participated in this cleanup and what it lacked in numbers we made up for in work and determination. I was surprised at how much of a diffrence we actually made on our treck from Ross to portsmouth picking up trash. It was a three hour tour, all told, with the speech from the Honorable Justice Douglas included. In regards to the number of people that we thought would go, yes 500 was VERY optomistic I thought ( I do not know if this was the planned number as the buying of the T-shirts was a communication mistake, which the president paid for out of his own pocket), but this was initially planned at the beginning of the semseter, teachers were going to be asked to be involved as well as locals, as it happened we had a couple of locals volenteer to help.
Water fountians were brought up with the administration and the plummers. We cannot as SGA, do anything about them except make the needs of the students known. As for the SGA lounge concerns, we had no budget and could not pay for any improvments until the budget was approved by the joint session (ie officers, class reps, honor reps and grievence reps). (This was not for lack of trying as there was three joint session meetings to pass the budget before it was passed.)
Before I answer "what can be expected in the future from SGA" I want to institute a disclaimer. The following things I am working on may or may not happen. First while I have gathered or am gathering information on these activities, I then have to present them to the joint session which meets this week, then they can happen. Personally, I am working on SGA movie nights (in classroom six, if we can get permission. The powers that be are considering it.), a after mini 2 party with ISA, the talent show which ISA wants to help sponcer as well, the second sandblast (with food now that we can spend money) and the constitution. The constitution is not taking time away from the SGA, just from me and the convention members which are not SGA members. Soon though we will have to look at it in a joint session meeting where it will be approved.
There are other things in the works but those are just the things that I am working on personally. I do not want to answer for anyone else. Thank you for your time. I hope this helps answer to your concerns.
Michael Giglio

[MD2B2006]

I then have to present them to the joint session which meets this week, then they can happen.

So there is a Joinst Session Meeting this week? I asked a friend of mine who is on that Joint Council, and they had no idea that there was a meeting scheduled for this week. This person checks their Ross email regularly I might add. It seems that this lack of information dissemination has not changed. I have repeatedly heard complains about last-minute notification of these meetings. Maybe I should direct my friend and their fellow joint session colleagues to this web site so they can find out sooner about these meetings.

The constitution is not taking time away from the SGA, just from me and the convention members which are not SGA members. Soon though we will have to look at it in a joint session meeting where it will be approved.


Awfully presumptuous to think that YOUR constitution WILL be approved by the joint session, isn't it, Mike?

Secondly, the SGA clean up campaign was partly environmental and partly political. The political aspect was so that we may open up avenues of support for things like lights on the banana trails, airport and transportation issues, from the portsmouth mayor and so forth.

Mike, Ross has been here for 25 years. The school as well as the students have made a HUGE impact on the local economy. The ties that Ross has established with Dominica and more specifically Portsmouth were established a LONG time ago, maybe even before you were born. While cleaning up the environment is a noble cause, I can assure you that it did little in "strengthening" the political ties. All it did was provide a free cleanup crew for a few hours.....less money that the local civic leaders have to spend themselves.

Additionally, I was at the SGA speeches last semester, and I do not recall anyone speaking of an environmental cleanup campaign. Again, I maintain that the purpose of the cleanup campaign was to make one individual look better, and you got suckered into that person's plan.

As for the SGA lounge concerns, we had no budget and could not pay for any improvments until the budget was approved by the joint session (ie officers, class reps, honor reps and grievence reps). (This was not for lack of trying as there was three joint session meetings to pass the budget before it was passed.)

Why don't you explain to the folks exactly WHY it took several joint session meetings to pass the budget? Your fingerpointing is unnerving!!! Grow a spine and accept some responsibility for yourself and your fellow Executive Board members for a change!

Mike, please do not insult our (the student's) intelligence by trying to play like you are a little politician who thinks they can say or do anything and the populus will simply accept it. We are not mindless sheep looking to follow a "leader."

[Cuando2]

I must honestly say that expecting 500 participants (close to half the student body) to show up to a clean-up campaign was not that great of an estimate. Even if this were a stateside undergraduate university serving 20+thousand students, I would not expect 500 people to show up. Imagine 500 people massing up the street. Since you said that, with 20 participants, it took 3 hours to go into Portsmouth, this means that each person did 9 mins. equivalent of work (productivity). Had it taken the same time, with 500 people, each person would perform the equivalent of around 22 seconds of pure work. Either you miscalculated the amount of work that was required, or you simply expected too much out of paying, busy students to come out and clean up a street that they would walk down a few times in their 16 months down here (assuming this was a 1st semester...for those in 4th, we're talking a drive down that street once more time...to C&W to cancel their phone service and head off this island). I would have to say I agree with the above poster regarding the fact that the locals basically received a free street cleaning from medical students who really, owe nothing more to this place than coming to school here, serving in whichever clinics (both voluntary and mandatory) that the school's curriculum requires, and paying out of the rear for things that would cost far less back home, thereby "enriching" the locals with money. And what do the students get in the end? The relative or acquintance of these local leaders end up robbing or raping fellow students. Quite frankly, the locals here are just like people anywhere else in this world, even in the US. Many just do not care about "nice acts" performed by the students. I have never had any troubles with transport to the airport, or trouble at the airport itself (its simple enough there...you show them your ticket that you already paid for, check in bags, and board your aircraft...it has nothing to do with American Airlines itself). I really think this whole idea was just bad planning...an activity that the majority of the students even know or have heard about, and frankly, an activity that the majority of students do not evne care about. Students are too busy to be cleaning up the local streets. They would rather see progress ON CAMPUS, where almost all of us come to school and learn, and spend a few hours each day. Tell Cyril that things ON CAMPUS are more important than things off campus (like trash on the street). I really hope this clean-up project does not resurface again...its really a waste of time.

[MikeG]

I must honestly say that expecting 500 participants (close to half the student body) to show up to a clean-up campaign was not that great of an estimate. Even if this were a stateside undergraduate university serving 20+thousand students, I would not expect 500 people to show up. Imagine 500 people massing up the street. Since you said that, with 20 participants, it took 3 hours to go into Portsmouth, this means that each person did 9 mins. equivalent of work (productivity). Had it taken the same time, with 500 people, each person would perform the equivalent of around 22 seconds of pure work. Either you miscalculated the amount of work that was required, or you simply expected too much out of paying, busy students to come out and clean up a street that they would walk down a few times in their 16 months down here (assuming this was a 1st semester...for those in 4th, we're talking a drive down that street once more time...to C&W to cancel their phone service and head off this island). I would have to say I agree with the above poster regarding the fact that the locals basically received a free street cleaning from medical students who really, owe nothing more to this place than coming to school here, serving in whichever clinics (both voluntary and mandatory) that the school's curriculum requires, and paying out of the rear for things that would cost far less back home, thereby "enriching" the locals with money. And what do the students get in the end? The relative or acquintance of these local leaders end up robbing or raping fellow students. Quite frankly, the locals here are just like people anywhere else in this world, even in the US. Many just do not care about "nice acts" performed by the students. I have never had any troubles with transport to the airport, or trouble at the airport itself (its simple enough there...you show them your ticket that you already paid for, check in bags, and board your aircraft...it has nothing to do with American Airlines itself). I really think this whole idea was just bad planning...an activity that the majority of the students even know or have heard about, and frankly, an activity that the majority of students do not evne care about. Students are too busy to be cleaning up the local streets. They would rather see progress ON CAMPUS, where almost all of us come to school and learn, and spend a few hours each day. Tell Cyril that things ON CAMPUS are more important than things off campus (like trash on the street). I really hope this clean-up project does not resurface again...its really a waste of time.

I don't see what the problem with this is, people showed up to help the environment and work got done. This happened with almost no finantial support from the SGA as the trash bags were donated and the T-shirts were paid for by Cyril. This campaign had a positive influence on our relations with the locals, however you look at it. Whether or not there was
a relationship there to begin with should not be an issue. Maintaining a good relationship takes work, with a little elbow grease we have put SGA on the political map, whereas before it was just the University that had influence.