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Last updated: Thursday, Feb. 9, 1:34 a.m.
Editorials | Opinion |

Editorial: Removal of VPSE unwarranted

Posted on Dec. 09, 2009, at 11:41 p.m.

The University of Maine General Student Senate’s decision not to reappoint Vice President of Student Entertainment Abtin Mehdizadegan was not totally surprising. According to Sen. Alex Ortiz, complaints about Mehdizadegan have been voiced more than once since he took office in spring 2009, including accusations that he was unapproachable and made inappropriate comments to senators and students.

But were these enough to remove Mehdizadegan from office without as much as a warning? We think not.

Whatever personality defects he may have had, our now-former VPSE was considered by many senators and students to have done a stellar superb job in his professional responsibilities — getting popular shows, advertising, dealing with agents and filling seats. In fact, several senators have said Mehdizadegan was the best VPSE UMaine has ever had.

An executive with this kind of track record should not have been so suddenly and easily removed from office, without ever being given a formal reprimand from GSS. In this decision, it seems to us that the senators were not acting in the best interests of the student body they ostensibly represent.

The senate was rightly concerned about accusations of Mehdizadegan’s unprofessional behavior, but baby steps should have been taken, allowing him the opportunity to change and improve. Instead, GSS jumped ahead and let go of an executive whose character flaws did not, at this point, merit dismissal.

Campus Currents:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009, 11:41 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.

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  • Dave

    Most of the Senators have only seen one or two VPSE’s. So to cite their “expertise” is ridiculous. Abtin was a virus from the beginning. Good riddance. It was only a matter of time.

  • Alisha

    Dave, I think you are completely wrong, as you probably do not understand what he has done for this campus in 1 year. The shear number of big name shows at the University of Maine is unheard of in Student Government History. Abtin may have been “mean” and whatnot but that has absolutely nothing to do with his job. He has excellent relations with agents and people associated with the tasks that he needed to complete. You really come off as ignorant and need to understand what he has done for the student body, and this decision was clearly not in the best interest of the students. The new senators are clearly taking personal gripes into the professional world, and that is what is completely unprofessional in this situation, NOT Abtin’s behavior.

  • Dave

    Alisha, there have been plenty of VPSEs who accomplished the same, if not more. And of course, working with senators is part of the job. The result of abtin’s behavior was a long time comin.

  • Spencer

    Abtin wasn’t unprofessional at all. I worked with him a few times and he was always really easy to talk to, easy to work with, and had a true passion for the job. He was the best person for the job and remains to be so. The senate was unprofessional when they removed him. If people new the shady politics of the senate, then they wouldn’t be so quick to through Abtin under the bus.

    People don’t realize that Nate, one of the people calling for Abtin to not get reaffirmed, was Abtin’s old assistant. Nate’s obviously still upset about this. The next person, Pardis, is Nate’s girlfriend.

    Abtin is an amazing kid. Everyone has their flaws but we need to remember this is just college. Don’t take yourselves so fucking seriously, no one else does.

  • Nate

    Woha Spencer, better check your facts before you post next time; Pardis and I are in no way involved with each other. A simple Facebook search would even prove that one…

    It’s true that I was Abtin’s assistant last year, however I left on my own accord. The major influence that past job had on my decision was the first-hand experience and exposure I had to how unprofessional, rude and inappropriate Mr. Mehdizadegan was to his student constituents, co-workers and even the people he reported to (Executives and Senators).

    I, in fact, had very little to do with ‘leading the charge’ in Senate’s vote. During debate, the only thing I said was to affirm what the other Senators stated they had experienced and witnessed, from my point of view as a past employee of his. This was not a personal vendetta on anyone’s accord; 11 Senators all individually felt the unprofessional and inappropriate behavior of the past-VPSE was uncalled for, hence our vote. Everyone knew and was aware of the past-VPSE’s issues, as they were clearly recorded and repeated in all three of the past formal executive reviews Senate conducted while Mr. Mehdizadegan was in his position. The vote turned out the way it did because a decisive number of us felt that he had been made aware of the issues repeatedly, with little to no effort made to correct these issues at all over the past year and a half. Taking those formal reviews (which are publicly available in the SG Financial Affairs office), and the fact that he had been personally approached by students, employees and executives in an effort to address those issues as well, 11 of us were not going to allow his behavior to continue into the next semester.

    Here’s a letter that Senator Ryan Gavin and I wrote and posted to the UMaine Forum for public viewing:

    “Mehdizadegan not ‘removed’, GSS actions fully warranted”

    As two Senators who voted against the confirmation of Abtin Mehdizadegan for the position of VPSE, we feel it is necessary to respond to the article entitled “Mehdizadegan removed from VPSE”.

    First and foremost, the General Student Senate did NOT remove anyone from office on Tuesday, December 8th. Former-President McCarthy fulfilled his constitutional responsibility of nominating a candidate for the executive positions; VPFA, VPSO and VPSE. The GSS then fulfilled its constitutional responsibility of assenting or dissenting to those nominees. The GSS voted to assent to the nominations of VPFA and VPSO, rehiring Justin Labonte and Samantha Shulman for those positions, respectively. The GSS did not assent to the nomination of Abtin Mehdizadegan for the position of VPSE, and thus he was not rehired for the next semester. Specifically, the GSS did not remove former-VPSE Mehdizadegan from his post; the vote taken allowed the former-VPSE to remain in office until Inauguration Day, at which time newly elected President Harris is responsible for nominating another candidate. The GSS will then use the same confirmation procedure to confirm or reject that candidate.

    The previous week, GSS fulfilled its semesterly duty of formally reviewing each executive, with comments and rating numbers kept on record. For the two of us, a major reason why we voted against the confirmation of Mr. Mehdizadeganís nomination, was that the three previous formal executive evaluations clearly showed that he had a number of issues regarding his professional behavior both in the office and representing UMSG, Inc., and little to no progress had been made in rectifying those issues.

    The vote GSS took was whether or not to hire the candidates presented to us by the President. A decisive number of Senators felt that former-VPSE Mehdizadegan should not be rehired for the post, thus the former-VPSE finished his term in office on Inauguration Day. With the interest of the student body and Student Government in mind, we know that President Harris will nominate a fully competent, personable and professional individual to succeed former-VPSE Mehdizadegan, and continue the recent trend of successful entertainment events on campus.

    Senator Nate Wildes is a sophomore political science major. Senator Ryan Gavin is a first-year political science major, and UMSG, Inc. Parliamentarian.

  • Johnny Comelately

    Mehdizaghen poisons this campus. Farewell you writhing parasite!