I am a contrarian and have been for as long as I can remember. When I sit down to write— especially these editorials— what comes immediately to mind are social critiques, commentaries and criticisms.
There are others I know who write only humor, never a serious thought to burden their minds, every adventure an addled gallivant through the utterly inane, and I envy their work, their guiltless insouciance, their humor. But that’s not me.
Welcome back, or if you’re new, thank you for choosing Johnson State College.
If you haven’t noticed, there have been a lot of changes going on at the college over recent weeks, in Dewey especially. Right now there is construction going on, and the first big part of it is going in. The new bookstore is taking shape in Dewey and will be done by February break. It will reopen in the new location on March 1. With the renovations the SGA and WJSC are making some adjustments to the construction plans. The SGA are donating some of the space so that a convenience store can be built and so that Public Safety can temporarily move into that space; The SGA lounge will only decreas. in size, and we still invite you to come in and watch TV, eat your lunch, relax, and do homework. WJSC will be moving their office and production studio into a different room in the radio station so that Michael Palagonia can move into the current office space in the radio station. The production studio will be turning into a storage space for the SGA.
When Clear Language is Not Enough
Each year as we return to Montpelier, we discover that laws we worked hard to draft in recent sessions are being ignored or subverted by the administration. One of the most frustrating areas is the promulgation of regulations to implement a new law. It is the legislature’s job to write policy; the administration develops the detailed rules to make it work. Part of the mandatory review process for the proposed rules is analysis by a legislative committee to assure that the rules are consistent with the intent of the underlying law. This is where differing agendas of the legislature and the Governor can come into conflict. Sometimes the rules seem to go beyond the scope of the new law intended by the legislature.