This past summer, when many students were gone studying abroad, doing internships and relaxing at home, the Unite Party was busy pushing through corrupt, tyrannical legislation. One of the most corrupt changes it made was adding the ability to kill any bill based on its "implication," a virtually meaningless term that the minority argued gave Unite the ability to kill bills it didn't like before the Student Senate got to vote on them.
That's exactly what this change has done. Since the Fall election, the Unite Party has already killed three bills in one meeting before the public got a chance to see them. One was from a senator utilizing his right to express his religious freedom, something that should never be silenced and certainly not silenced in an obscure committee meeting. Unite killed a bill that tried to make the majority-ruled Senate Executive Committee, composed of seven Unite chairmen, acknowledge the voices and opinions of the minority party. And in a final act of tyranny, Unite killed a bill to make the position of parliamentarian non-partisan, despite the fact that the current parliamentarian, a supposedly unbiased voice, managed campaign materials for Unite in the fall.
Unite is not merely content with its supermajority control, it demands total, one-party domination and is doing everything within its power to crush the minority voice of the Senate. It ignores not only minority senators, but also their constituents - students at this university.
Unite's message is clear: If you do not agree with it, your opinion will not be heard. This is unscrupulous, undemocratic and un-American. Unite and its leaders should be ashamed by their blatant disregard for basic democratic rights.
Carly Wilson
UF SG Senator
Students Party Communications Director
