SAM disbands as schools call quits

Recent blows weakened the Student Association of Missouri until finally the organization was brought to its knees.

Sophomore Angela Crawford, acting president of SAM, a statewide organization founded by Truman students in 2001 to lobby for higher education, announced at the beginning of Sunday's general Student Senate meeting that SAM will no longer operate as an organization.

Crawford, who is also the communications director for Senate, said many factors contributed to the decision.

Former SAM president Jesse Holcomb, a junior from Missouri Western State College, resigned Jan. 13. The Student Government Association of Missouri Western, the only SAM full-paying member school, decided Jan. 31 to pull out of SAM, Crawford said.

"I wish [SAM] could have succeeded," Crawford said. "SAM is a great idea. I don't think that anyone can argue with the idea of having an organization that works with all students in Missouri to really get things done statewide for the benefit of students."

Holcomb said he thinks the major contributing factor to SAM's demise was that other schools, especially Truman, did not join as full-paying members.

"[Truman] is the backbone of that," he said. "They started it, and unfortunately they went out and quit."

In the spring elections, 56.2 percent of students who voted wanted to refrain from paying SAM membership dues of $1 per student per year. In September, Senate voted 12 to 3 to apply for non-paying provisional membership to SAM.

Holcomb said he thought it was unfair for Missouri Western to be the only full-paying member school contributing $4,150 to SAM. He said he forewarned SAM that Missouri Western would possibly discontinue its membership.

"I am growing kind of tired of people attacking me for an organization that was probably going to fail last semester," Holcomb said.

Crawford, who became acting president after Holcomb's resignation, said she did not take up the role to watch the organization fail. She said she and three Truman students were working to keep SAM operating, but students from other schools had minimal participation.

"Until I see other people willing to step up and take action - so far no one is willing to - there is no other option," she said. "We have exhausted all possibilities, and it breaks my heart to know that SAM has to end and that it has to end like this."

Junior Ebube Nwazota, senator and chair of the SAM Task Force, said Senate created the SAM Task Force to review SAM activities after the student referendum was passed. The Task Force compiled an interim report of the information gathered during the investigative process, he said.

Sophomore Justis Tuia, a Task Force member and senior senator, said he was shocked when Crawford announced SAM's decision. The Task Force was to present its interim report to Senate and planned to recommend continued provisional membership at Sunday's meeting, Tuia said.

"The committee did decide to issue the report despite the fact that SAM was officially going to fold ... in the hopes that, should another organization such as SAM be formed, that hopefully these suggestions would be helpful to them," he said.

Nwazota said the Task Force found SAM's organizational and institutional structure to be its biggest problem. He said SAM did have a legislative assembly, which dealt with minor issues, but it appeared SAM used a centralized system with most of the power vested in the executives.

Senior Rory Roundtree, former SAM president, said SAM did practice a system of checks and balances with the executives reporting to the board.

Nwazota said the Task Force also noted problems with internal and external communication because it did not keep students informed about end-of-year and media reports and periodic updates.

Nwazota said he thinks in the past SAM failed to accept feedback from Senate and instead SAM perceived criticism as an attack.

"Their immediate response was to try to defend themselves rather than to pick the information that was being given to them, analyze that information and try to seek out best ways to handle the situation," Nwazota said.

Roundtree said SAM tried to take several steps during his presidency in response to criticism. These include changes adapted from the recommendations from several schools to review refund mechanisms and rewrite SAM's constitution and by-laws, Roundtree said.

Nwazota said the Task Force also identified the positive aspects of SAM, including its maintenance of financial records and its presence in Jefferson City.

"I think it's a big blow to Missouri students," Nwazota said. "It means that different schools will have to fight for themselves now. It's going to be a difficult task, but SAM did have potential, no doubt about that. It just needed to make changes here and there. And things should have been all right again."

Crawford said it may take time before SAM officially closes down.

"Technically SAM still exists and will exist until documents have been signed, bills have been paid and money has been disseminated in proper ways," Crawford said.