N.Y.U. Student Ex-Prez Defends Frolicking Ethics
According to now-former N.Y.U. College of Arts & Science Student Council President Meredith Dolgin, "the press can't seem to get anything right" when it comes to documenting the events surrounding the sudden end of her tenure last week. Know what? She's mostly correct! Dolgin got tabloid-raked through some Post-y muck for being a "renegade," "tampering with committee elections, frolicking in a pumpkin patch on the organization's dime—and helping to improperly use school funds to pay her own grandmother to speak at a symposium" in an article headlined "Student Prez's 'F' in Ethics." But on the "little known facts" page of a blog that Meredith has created in order to set the record straight, she points out that she actually got an A- in ethics. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
She also points out that her grandmother Terrie Rabinowitz's talk was "the most attended Student Council event last year" and invites interested parties to contact her about booking Terrie for their next "corporate function, party, or forum." Oh and! A prominent banner reads, "Frolic with me." Did we say Meredith was a "pompous ass?" We clearly meant to say that she is a "totally fun girl who seems to have been hung out to dry by her school's administration."
Because, as Dolgin explains, and as the Washington Square News conspicuously failed to, she actually did not step down as president:
Tuesday was the last student council meeting of the year, and I passed the torch to the new representatives, as occurs every year at the last meeting, and as stated in the constitution. This was not a resignation. I conducted the meeting as it should have been run and stood up for the student body - the only difference was that the students allowed their voice to be trumped by NYU bureaucracy. Nobody on the investigation committee could pinpoint what actually could have happened that would have made the elections illegitimate. They cited "miscommunication" in the vague statement that was issued. I was faced with a very tough decision.
I respect the administration for their hard work and dedication to diplomacy throughout this situation, but as student council president, I had to uphold the legitimacy of the student council and listen to the student voice.
Oof! That sucks. Well, it's cheering to know that Dolgin able to draw strength from quotes from Joan of Arc ("One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying") and Rilke. Don't stop believing, Meredith!