Campaign sign-burning

Student Senator Brad Wahlstrom said he was planning on staying involved in Weber State University's student government despite his presidential election loss - now, he's not so sure. "I'm just dissatisfied with some of the people who did get elected," Wahlstrom said. On Tuesday, April 10, Wahlstrom said he was alerted by several people to photographs on the social-networking site Facebook.com, one of Ben Taylor holding one of Wahlstrom's election signs over a bonfire and another photo of Taylor and Jessica Sims saluting a burning sign. Taylor and Sims were recently voted in as the 2007-2008 College of Arts and Humanities senator and diversity vice president, respectively. Taylor and Sims said they meant no disrespect from the burning and that the situation has been taken out of context. Wahlstrom said he was shocked to see two elected students take part in that activity. "I don't understand why they thought this was appropriate," Wahlstrom said, noting that when he was taking down his campaign signs, one was missing - it shows a picture of Wahlstrom in his military uniform, the American flag overlaid in the background and reads "Proud to Serve WSU/Brad Wahlstrom for President." That sign is the one in the photo being held by Taylor and later burned. "This was not meant to be disrespectful at all," Taylor said. "There were no degrading words of Brad mentioned. The picture may make it look like it was disrespectful, but that picture was probably two seconds out of that whole night and we just really didn't even think of it." Taylor said a group of friends, including elections winners and losers, got together April 14 at a bonfire and decided to use their campaign signs as firewood; someone had picked up a slightly-damaged Wahlstrom sign and they threw that one in as well. "I personally, I don't have a single bad feeling for Brad Wahlstrom," Taylor said. "I respect him greatly. He gave me advice during my own election when I was running for office and I'm grateful for it. And I realize that he probably should have been informed before we burned the sign, and that was a mistake." According to Co-Elections Chair Dennis Miller, the only bylaw regarding campaign signs after elections are over is that candidates remove them from campus. Taylor said that when he heard there were people angry about the photos, he immediately called Wahlstrom to assure him the sign burning wasn't meant offensively and from the conversation. Taylor said he felt Wahlstrom was not angry about the situation, but that his only hard feelings were of not being invited to the party. Wahlstrom said he spoke with Taylor before he had seen the pictures, and that the picture speaks for itself. "They say that they did it in a very respectful fashion, how they dispatched my sign - they burned it, someone played 'Taps' there, intentions were honorable, from what they claimed - I don't buy it," Wahlstrom said. Moises Leon said he was particularly angry at seeing the image of a soldier burned, as well as the image of a member of the WSU Hispanic Area Council, of which Leon and Wahlstrom are members. "I was very upset, being a former Marine, to see a picture of a fellow Marine being burned," Leon said. He said the people involved with the burning should resign because their behavior will lead to distrust among students. "I'm highly offended that this would occur," Leon said. "All it does is create splintering among students and student groups." Taylor said he has tried to meet with Wahlstrom and other students offended by the pictures, but that his efforts haven't been received. Sims, whose own election signs were burned at the bonfire, said she thinks the situation has been taken out of context. "I personally don't have anything against Brad," Sims said. "And I was not there to go demeaning anybody. We weren't trying to mock him in any way. I was not trying to mock him in any way. I want people to know that I'm a good person, and I wouldn't do that kind of a thing to mock someone else, and I'm sorry it happened to him." She said she feels the people angered by those pictures have misjudged her and don't know the whole story. WSU Student Legislation and Organizations Coordinator Jose Gomez organized a meeting today to bring the parties involved in this situation together to discuss all sides of the story and come up with a solution; he said no action has been taken and that more information is still being gathered. Gomez said he hopes students feel they have ownership in the decisions made in the meeting, and that, apart from resolving the issue, a conversation can spring about a clear code of conduct or standards for student leaders representing WSU. "It certainly is a concern of Student Involvement and Leadership that we have students that have a clear understanding that what they do is a representation of not just their own choices and actions, it's a representation of them being a student at Weber State," Gomez said. Wahlstrom said that he'll wait until today's meeting and decide where to go from there. Taylor said he is willing to accept any action determined by the group, "my only hope is that it will be resolved quickly so the Student Senate can get on with academic issues that matter."

You can reach reporter María Villaseñor by calling 626-7121.