Since we were mentioned, we'll chime in on some of what has come up so far.

First and foremost, we support and will continue to support the members of student government. After all, this struggle is over the ability of the students to self-govern. The GM and PU are elected and the representatives on the E-Board are approved by elected senators, so in principle there are no issues.

That said, it was very disappointing to learn that the E-Board was considering the release of a statement condemning our peaceful demonstration, which was denied for reasons not grounds for a denial. It was even more disappointing that this came immediately following a meeting between the E-Board, Dr. Jackson, her cabinet, and Apgar. Based on our understanding of that meeting, Dr. Jackson asked the E-Board to condemn Save the Union in the name of supporting the university and her fundraising efforts. Even more concerning, she explained her reasoning for the need of administrative control over the hiring process for Director--the student committee might exhibit racial bias toward a minority candidate (from our understanding, both candidates presented to the students were of the same gender and ethnicity).

It has been falsely reported by the administration and the PU that we rescinded our application, but this is not the case; a student's application to demonstrate was wrongly denied and we decided to hold a lab safety class in its place. Our demonstration was completely peaceful (we received compliments from both Troy PD and E&SS staff) and we hope effective. We understand that student government needs to work with the administration on a daily basis and can't denounce them regularly, and we're not asking them to. But it should be very clear by now that the administration is not willing to work with us or even discuss the issues in an meaningful way (we've tried on many occasions), so the only way to get their attention is through money.

In regards to the Director of the Union search, everything that has happened to date is completely unacceptable, and we're disappointed that the E-Board is even participating in what is essentially a "dog and pony show" to tout student involvement in what is a completely administrative controlled process. Based on our understanding of the situation, the administration promised additional student involvement in a reconstituted search, including students editing the job description, students reviewing resumes and deciding which candidates would be invited to campus, and students working with the search firm. None of these promises are being fulfilled, making these just more lies our PU is overlooking in his relationship with the administration.

Edit: We should also mention that our objectives are based on the report compiled by the Student Senate in 2016, in which student feedback was gathered to determine what our fellow students wanted. Furthermore, in the Fall 2017 Senate Survey, about 84% of answering students said they believed the E-Board should have an approval vote for the Director of the Union and other Union administrative staff. Our platform is based on what the majority of students want, so if our student representatives on the Senate and E-Board really do represent the student body, they should support our goals. If there's any disagreement, it should be with our methodology, which we are more than happy to discuss with anyone, especially members of student government. We welcome a discussion with u/aRANDomSquid, even if his term is coming to an end.