Here’s the situation: At ASUW’s Tuesday night meeting, Brian Degenfelder, who just happens to be Megan’s brother, was appointed to be ASUW’s Director of Public Relations and Bryan Dugas, who just happens to date Megan, was appointed the Chief of Staff. I’m sure pointing out the obvious will cause some bad blood, but seriously Megan? You only see this kind of political decision-making in monarchical countries, and I don’t think our fiercely independent state would be cool with the notion of a “Royal Degenfelder Family.”
But I want to be fair. Both Bri/yan’s have certain skills that make them qualified for the jobs they received. I will be the first to agree that Dugas has been serving ASUW well. That is in spite of my opinion that it is a bit too coincidental that he was last year’s election’s official, and right after Megan was voted president, the two became a Facebook-official couple.
However, you don’t have to watch “The Office” to realize relationships are something that just happen at the work place, so I won’t dwell on it.
On the other hand we have Brian Degenfelder. He actually worked for the Branding Iron and hence has some experience with newspapers. Well, when it comes to taking pictures.
Here is my biggest problem with our current situation. Megan did not give a fair chance for other potential candidates. What do I mean with fair? Instead of waiting for a few weeks and recruiting from a student pool that just arrived at the University of Wyoming, she chose to elect her brother into office, which will certainly look nice on his future resume. Is he the only qualified student for the position? What about freshmen, non-traditional students, international students, transfer students or anybody else who didn’t grow up in the same state, town and house as someone who is already representing us? I think this just shows how little promising to increase “awareness of diversity on campus” means as an election promise.
Here is another scenario. What if Brian Degenfelder isn’t cut out for the job? What if he doesn’t do his job? Is Megan Degenfelder just going to fire him? Let’s say she does, how would she explain that to him and her parents? There is truth to the saying “Don’t mix your business and personal life.” Yet, it seems that Megan Degenfelder is on the path to disaster when it comes to playing favoritism.
And finally, let me outline the absolute irony of this situation: Hiring your boyfriend will already cause unnecessary comments, no matter how qualified he might be. But hiring your brother —in addition—as the director of PUBLIC RELATIONS is a point-blank bullet to your reputation. I was hoping that with Vice President Ty McNamee’s energetic charisma and Megan Degenfelder’s experience in ASUW and Director of PR (also ironic), ASUW would be able to reinvent itself. However, I still see the same old B.S. we’ve seen over the last few years.
So let me be the first student on campus to say that I am truly disappointed. This is not the representation I expected from my president.