If our integrity needed defending, we would most likely do it in a precisely written editorial rather than a rebuttal comment online. So far, the only thing that has needed refuting is the statement that Graham Wahlberg is a contributor, which is false. (No, one picture is not enough to call him a contributor. You might as well call everyone who participates in CampusSpeak a contributor.) Everything else is unsubstantiated opinion. You’re entitled to your opinion — I can’t really refute an opinion on behalf of the entire staff.

I will say that I know our news team put a lot of thought into how to properly cover this, and they covered it as thoroughly as possible. Our readers now have the facts that we have. That’s the same approach we took with Mackee Mason and Sandra Flores. Any resulting difference in coverage stems from difference between the stories and the facts available to us.

WOW, ahem Mackee,

You’re so obvious.

Graham, ahem Larry,
What is there to argue about, you’re only possible reasonable defense is that they did not inform you. You still violated policy, you had alcohol accessible to minors, that part you are not disputing. It is, in your own words, illegal and you should know the law.

Dont let all of those fairy tales get in the way of the fact that your friendship with the collegian has caused for a drastic change in coverage, no editorials about how you said that you wanted to return dignity to the position as if you are above doing anything wrong.

BTW its funny that you go on a tirade about all those horrible things Mason did, then say he didnt violate the code of conduct because it wasnt made for that kind of abuse. Come on, the COC is pretty straightforward and there was ample time in between Flores and Mason’s admittance and their resignation to act if they had broken it. They didnt so you couldnt, simple.

Deny it all you want to but notice that the collegian has not commented at all about the ASI executives relationship with the collegian, defending that they are objective. Because they aren’t, simple. You would think your publications integrity would be worth defending.

you’re a latina? That means you’re white. Latina(o) is not a race…..it is an ethnicity and a culture perhaps, but by all accounts not a race—-consult any archeologist on that one, Vanessa.

^^Agree, James. It all is incredibly lame. Glad I chose not to go here.

Wow, I guess I made a great decision by not going to this school. Aren’t there better things to discuss and worse people to bust for worse things? It all sounds incredibly lame.

DW —

First of all don’t give me that racial crap — I’m sick of it! You sound like a broken record. I am a latina — I don’t go crying a river everytime something unfair happens to me, I analyze the situation, get over it, and move on!

Back to Graham/Mason. I don’t know how many different ways I can possibly say it, but in no way can Mason’s situation be compared to Graham’s. You said that The Collegian was responsible for creating a lynch mob mentality among some on campus — WOW!! Are you ever so wrong!! First of all I bet more than half of the students at Fresno State even gave a damn about what Mason did.

Do you really believe it was because he was black — or are you sure it wasn’t because he was careless and irresponsible. FYI: I did get the facts! Mason was an immature boy who was put into office and choked under pressure. So don’t try to justify his actions by making this something about race. Mason was too busy trying to be friends with everyone, when he should of been taking of business.

Regardless of Mason’s stupidity his term is over, he’s old news. As far as I know Graham has not done anything wrong. University Policy states that students age 21 and over may consume alcohol on campus in the privacy of their residences — so get your facts straight befor you give me your opinion. Oh, and if you can’t come up with anything to back up that broken record of an argument you have, don’t resort to “its because he’s white and Mason was black” because it’s not.

Larry, I really don’t care what you think. The fact still is that Wahlberg was cited for furnishing alcohol to minors, a violation of university policy–an accusation he has been adjudicated guilty of (see the above story) and, dependent on available evidence, possibly a criminal violation of the Business and Professions Code. You may not like the outcome, but facts are facts.

As for the questions about the Collegian’s handling of this, they remain open. Again, you may not like them, but they ARE valid.

The Annie Tremp case is still open. Not all the facts have been made public. It may prove that Mason did absolutely nothing wrong in terminating her.

dw, Checkagain, and wow,

The fact is there’s no proof that Wahlberg provided any alcohol to minors or that anyone underage drank his alcohol.

The citation was a stretch by the university, and the real question is why is the university issuing it when there is no compelling evidence that Wahlberg purchased alcohol for minors.

Plus The Bee, if you really read between the lines had nothing in their article either.

Wahlberg and Mason’s situations are completely different.

Wahlberg never admitted in a letter to students that he observed minors drinking and did nothing to stop it.

Mason did.

Wahlberg never purchased alcohol with an ASI credit card.

Mason did.

Wahlberg never rented a car with ASI money for a three-day joy ride

Mason did.

Wahlberg and a few ASI senators never trashed a hotel room while attending an ASI retreat.

Mason, Flores, and a few senators in days’ past did.

Wahlberg never got kicked out of Legoland for disorderly conduct during an ASI retreat.

Mason did.

Wahlberg never got a university employee fired (Annie Tremp)

Mason did.

Wahlberg never caused the university to go through a lawsuit (with Annie Tremp)

Mason did.

So maybe no one at The Collegian or on campus as far as I know, is calling for Wahlberg’s removal because unlike Mason, he is actually doing his job and not going crazy with ASI money, our money, students’ money.

And maybe you’re forgetting, Mason and Flores came to The Collegian with the letters last semester and that’s why the story broke. After that The Collegian just followed the story and covered it. The fact is there’s no equal coverage because there’s nothing to cover. Wahlberg hasn’t screwed up as much as Mason did.

And The Collegian didn’t force Mason out, he resigned before ASI could take any punitive action against him. A smart move on his part since now there’s no actual action on record against him, he resigned before the senate could take any vote on what to do with him.

Plus the only reason Mason didn’t violate the code of conduct was because at the time nothing was written to cover that type of situation. Because nobody abused it the way he had before. Now the new revised version passed last semester has specifics pertaining to execs and their spending.

No one wants Wahlberg out because he is doing his job, and unlike Mason isn’t making a mockery of ASI.

Wahlberg knows what he’s doing and is a good stewart of student money.

and in fact changed policy on how ASI execs spend money, travel, and purchase.

and I believe as of now because of him and Lauren, the ASI credit cards are no longer being used.

So why don’t you all talk about that huh?

Guess what Vannessa, Graham violated university policy. That’s why it’s such a big deal, especially after the Mason/Flores furor last semester which didn’t violate any university rules, just some stupid grandstanding ASI did awhile back.

The Collegian led the charge to force Mason and Flores out of office. Check the coverage. It created a lynch mob mentality among some on campus. Mason is black, Flores is a Latina. Now we have Mr. Wahlberg caught violating university policy (and possibly state law about furnishing alcohol to minors, which is a misdemeanor). The Collegian was well-aware of the situation, since it by its own admission had been alerted to the situation last semester by people posting on the paper’s website.

Yet, the Collegian failed to even look into the story. It wasn’t until the Fresno Bee broke the story a few weeks ago and the Collegian got called out on their failure that staff apparently poked their heads out of the sand and started looking around. But, still no story. The explanation was that the Bee had already covered it.

The issue of race and collusion came up right after the Bee story. Despite what some people want, these are valid questions. The editor of the Collegian needs to be forthright about any professional and personal relationships involving Graham and paper staff, to clear the air about the Collegian’s credibility. To date, there has been, essentially, silence from the west end of Speech Arts. Therefore, the journalistic credibility of the paper is open to grave doubt!

Look! i can enter in whatever name I want to be classified in as well and write in anything too.

I HEARD PRESEIDENT WELTY CONVERSING WITH SATAN! SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT “THIS BUDGE THING WAS THE BEST WORK YOU HAVE DONE IN A WHILE, LUKE”

THEN HE AND THE BIG RED GUY HAD A GREAT LAUGH.

Thought my constituents (not constitutes, thats where something makes up something else) should know.

As someone who lived in the dorms and had experience with alcohol goings on there, I do not see the severity in this. The alcohol was in his personal fridge that happenned to be in the common area of his dorm, where people under 21 were living as well. I bet if you asked every person who lives in the suites or community halls they would not be able to tell you any of the policies about what distance the alcohol needs to be from underage people, or when and where and how they can store it, and yes those do exist in the terms of agreement between the persons leasing the dorms and the school.

It was a dumb mistake, and he should be punished if it comes out that the search of his area was conducted correctly (i.e. he was notified) but people are blowing this way out of proportion.

And to those thinking its a race thing, it really is ignorant people like you that end up breeding more hate then you think you are fighting.

Someone brought up the relationship of Graham and the Collegian. Thats funny, because as a senator, i have overheard Graham and Lauren Johnson speaking openly about their friendship with the Collegian. Laughing about how this will all “just go away.” In fact, they talk about their visits to the office and how different it is to be cool with the staff, saying that it is good for the image of ASI.

Just think my constitutes should know about the cozy bedfellows.

If the ASI president violates school policy, the precedent set by the Collegian last year is that it is the students business.
In fact, Flores and Mason did not violate school policy, only an ambiguous substance-free pledge from ASI, the underage part is actually similar to Wahlberg’s they said that they where “around” underage drinkers, same as Graham having alcohol around minors. I havent seen anything about distributing.
The difference is Graham’s happened on campus. Violating campus policy.
Where are all the cries for the President being held to a higher standard? When Graham makes a similar mistake, all the sudden, he has it “hard”! Its laughable the contast of coverage that brings into question who is covering it and the images they choose to present.

You guys are all full of it!! The alcohol was in his PERSONAL refrigerator, the only reason everyone is making such a big deal out of this is because of Mason. Sure he is in the public eye, and what not but he is entitled to having a life!! Honestly people it is NONE of our business what he does on his own time.

Give the guy a break! I bet not even half of the student body has a schedule like his. I understand it was his decision to take this job on, but can you possibly imagine how stressful it may be!! After a long day of classes and dealing with all the wining and b*tching from ASI, Professors, CLubs, etc. who wouldn’t want a nice cold beer!! Do you blame him?

One last thing, somebody posted that because he’s “white” they have taken it easy on him. No people, are you guys really that ignorant? You can not compare Mason’s situation to Grahams — Mason was distributing alcohol to minors, and it was at an ASI event — he was caught red handed!!

So for everyone out there who put their 2 cents in, GET OVER IT!! It’s none of your business, it was in his personal refrigerator.

“Wahlberg received a written notice that he was being cited for furnishing alcoholic beverages to people under the age of 21 by having alcohol in his personal refrigerator, which was located in a common area of the suite. Wahlberg’s suite includes some residents under the age of 21”–so clearly it involves underage drinking

Graham was actually cited by the university, Graham broke CSU Fresno policy, which supersedes any ASI policy. Graham is actually in violation with the university.

IT IS ABOUT RACE! How plain does it need to be laid out in front of you? How do you not see the parallels?

Aside from alcohol in the equation, I really don’t see parallels between Mackee and Graham…

First: What occurred with Mackee happened during ASI business (the ASI retreat).
Second: What happened with Mackee involved underage drinking.

Neither of those circumstances occurred with Graham, SO STOP MAKING IT ABOUT RACE

This sort of situation is precisely why codes of conduct tend to be farces. They set up unrealistic expectations. These codes were apparently born out of the alcohol campaign on this campus, which is based on flawed data (see the alcohol survey of a few years ago).

its all about raceism. Put a black man in ASI he gets his head cut off……not literally, for an alcohol violation but then put a white guy such as wahlberg and commit the same type of violation as the black man and guess what? nothing happens.

Yes, anyone can submit anything, which is rather the point I was making. Graham Wahlberg is as free to submit items to us as a fraternity is. We make decisions based on what the content of submissions are, not who submitted them.

I will neither deny nor confirm anything on behalf of the entire staff, as I am authorized to speak only for myself.

He did, and anyone can submit them, but any one can submit anything, that doesnt take away from the fact that he had a picture of his on the front page. Are you denying personal friendships of the collegian staff with executives of ASI?

Not that I can find. If he did, it was most likely what’s referred to as “free art;” photos that run independently of stories. These can be contributed by anyone.

For the record Graham has submitted a photo to the collegian.

For the record, Graham Wahlberg has never contributed to The Collegian.

Whats interesting is the comparison of coverage with this story and last years coverage on Mason and Flores, you should download both PDF’s and compare it makes for a great case study. What are the differences between Graham and Mason and Flores? Hmm….well Graham contributes to the collegian on occasion, he’s buddies with some of them, and Oh yeah, HES WHITE! Interesting….

He does sound stupid.

Who would have thought him serving alcohol to minors, after that wonderful presentation he gave on his time studying abroad, which ended in a picture gallery of him collecting empty alcohol containers (for recycling, no doubt).

You’re not like everyone else Wahlberg. You’re a public figure on campus (and just campus, thank god) and that means you should be 1, responsible for your actions; and 2, a role model, not for us, but those who see you as the voice of the students.

Excuses, excuses. He has violated the ASI code of conduct just like Mason and Flores did and should be put up for removal.

On a side note, could he possibly sound any more stupid in his interview? Seriously!