ASU’s SGA President Responds to Local Democratic Blog

Story by Ron Fitzwater

In a blog titled Snakes in the Grass posted at www.wataugawatch.net on June 18, accusations of students being spoon-fed resentment against the Town of Boone and stating that the student body at ASU “doesn't understand the issues involved.”

Stating that news had filtered out of Raleigh that Appalachian State University is shopping for a state representative to move a local bill to exempt the university from local ordinances, that blogger J.W. Williamson claims “might stand in their way, their way being the taking of whatever property they want and then putting up of whatever structure they desire, local neighborhoods be damned.”

Additionally, Williamson accused the university of going around the backs of local elected representatives to make their plans a reality.

Williamson took aim at the ASU, SGA, stating, “The University administration has sold the line to the students that if ASU doesn't get to build its College of Education in precisely that spot, they will have to go up on student fees. Adding, “since they’re in the business of teaching good citizenship to young people, the ASU administration has managed to spoon-feed their resentments against the Town of Boone to the ASU Student Government, which doesn't understand the issues involved. The ASU SGA has mounted a petition against the town in an effort to rile up students. Apparently, if the town insists on its rules for development, it is somehow anti-student.”

SGA President Forrest Gilliam responded to the attack saying, “I was alerted to the entry and the simple fact is that I was not ‘spoon-fed’ any information. I hope the Town Council will vote to allow the College of Education at the corner of Howard and College Streets, and that was the intent of the petition.” The result of the petition drive was not what the SGA had hoped it would be. Gilliam explained, “because few of the students we approached with the petition seemed knowledgeable enough to sign it, we scrapped the project. Very few names were collected, and nothing was turned in. The information has since been removed from our website. I have spoken previously with members of the Council, the Mayor, and representatives of the University about this matter. I am not being a puppet for anyone. My first interest is what is best for students, and I believe the site is best for students.” Gilliam said since its publication that he has “responded to the blog at the site.”