Sham student organization tests campus freedoms

An anti-conservative, anti-military student group never existed except to test the political and administrative waters of the University, says the founder.

Students Against Conservative America and the Military (SACAM) was conceived by several UMKC students earlier this semester as a purposefully controversial student organization that existed only on paper.

The fictitious group's constitution was submitted to the Student Government Association Senate to be accepted as an official UMKC student group. After a month of deliberation SACAM was tabled indefinitely.

SACAM brainchild Austin Case says the "experiment" demonstrated a student senate out of touch with issues and an oft-complacent University administration.

"SACAM was made purposefully controversial. We wanted to push the student senate to recognize a controversial group and [when denied] put our administrators in the limelight to see if they step in," said Case.

He says as egregious as the student group was made to appear, the divisive ideology of the group's constitution, which held the charter to "oppose the growing number of conservatives on campus and local communities," was constitutional under the First Amendment.

"Students have a right to oppose other people's political ideologies and the military," said Case.

He said certain reservations he and other students had were substantiated, such as an inherent bias among student senators and some campus administrators of not understanding they operate on a legislative rather than judicial framework.

Case said the most apparent evidence of this claim was when he submitted SACAM's constitution for approval at the Sept. 21 meeting of the SGA Senate, a body he maintains has several key conservative figures holding sway.

With the preamble of the group's constitution before senators loaded with words such as "genocide" in Iraq and the "growing" conservative presence at UMKC, Senator Sarah Peters dubbed the organization a "hate group."

Senator Damon Jensen said the group was "discriminatory" to the military. Senator Greg Roberts said approving SACAM might possibly pave way for a Knights of the Aryan Race chapter to open on campus.

Other senators argued SACAM was tantamount to starting a student group that opposed homosexuals.

Dissenting opinions came from student representatives such as SGA President Marcus Leach.

"It's not the role of the senate to make content calls and say 'yes' or 'no' to student organizations coming into fruition," said Leach. "[But] certain senators thought punishment before the crime is committed was the best course of action."

Leach contended if the SACAM conversation belonged anywhere in students' hands, it should be through the UMKC Student Superior Court, not the senate.

After delaying a vote on the organization for a month, senators decided to indefinitely table the fate of SACAM until a formal review by University of Missouri Legal Council was complete.

"And we're all aware that rights delayed are rights denied," said Leach.

After the senate ruled, Case immediately appealed to administrators.

"The administration agreed the senate's actions were not constitutional, but [they] were unwilling to take immediate action to right the senate's wrong," he said.

Case speculates the refusal to correct the senate was tied to fear of political backlash and the level of administration the SACAM decision reached.

He does, however, believe the experiment in student freedom has brought to light key inconsistencies and limitations within the University.

"For one, our student senate is a non-representative body and they are willing to put political ideologies ahead of students," Case said. "And our administration is slow to act because they are worried about their jobs and appearances."

He also believes the SACAM episode will in the future assist controversial student organizations seeking recognition by the University.

asafi@unews.com