Graphic by Megan Eloise/The Gazelle
Farah and Juliana on Student Government Conflicts
Below is a conversation between senior Juliana Bello and Student Government president Farah Shamout on rumors and conflicts surrounding the election of ...
Sep 12, 2015
Below is a conversation between senior Juliana Bello and Student Government president Farah Shamout on rumors and conflicts surrounding the election of this year's Student Government.
Last semester, controversy arose after a special General Assembly session decided that students on leaves of absence could not run in elections, directly affecting the trajectory of the presidential vote.
In the wake of this GA, some students expressed concerns that the session had been manipulated by unfair voting practices, and that Shamout had been involved. Bello and Shamout asked and answered each other's questions regarding the issue.
Why do you want to write this article?
Farah:
I am writing this article to address the multiple rumors that have circulated around our campus since last April due to unlucky events that occurred prior to the Student Government elections. The most recent one is about Jules wanting to yell at me [at a recent GA]. I was confused by the rumor so I immediately got in contact with her to meet in person and discuss the issue.Sadly, most of the other rumors questioned my integrity as a person, affected my relationship with friends and left me for the most of spring semester feeling uncomfortable on our campus.
Following a lengthy conversation with Jules, I felt that we were both able to better perceive the situation from one another’s perspective. I better understand now the reason that angered those around me and how those reasons came from their feelings that an event [in last semester's elections] was unfair.
Therefore, I suggested sharing our conversation with the public to resolve all outstanding issues and to encourage our community to start real conversations with one another.
Jules:
A rumor that I wanted to yell at Farah at a recent GA because of conflict over the special GA regarding students on leave got back around to me, and I’m glad it did. Now, if I hadn’t been the subject of the rumor I’m sure I would have passed it right on to the next eager listener, so I’m in no place to pass judgment on the spreading of false information.Yet this rumor was so untrue and so contrary to what I’m trying to achieve with regards to the vote that I think it should be addressed.
I take no issue with Farah or any individual. I take issue with the fact that, as a collective student body, we were aware of a possible and, comparatively, easily rectifiable injustice committed among us, and yet we’re left incapable of doing anything about it.
What was your perception of the events while you were abroad and how did you formulate it?
Jules:
I studied abroad in Jordan last semester, so the events of the special GA arrived in pieces and from many different sources. When I learned about the possibility of fraud I was shocked, and as it remained, from my foreign perspective, unconfronted, I became obsessed.From a distance it was very easy to see a victim and a perpetrator, and I made a lot of assumptions about what some people must have known.
At this point, I don’t care about what anybody knew or even what actually occurred; I am interested in our collective recognition that somewhere, somehow, mistakes were made that resulted in extreme tension and verbal violence in our community, as well as an inability to rest assured that the results of the special GA regarding students on leave were fair.
Farah:
Overnight, the whole thing blew up in my face. I was suddenly receiving angry messages from friends abroad, reading horrible anonymous messages on Yik Yak and being continuously approached by friends asking about what happened.It was definitely easier to talk to people here than those who were abroad. As Jules mentioned, they were receiving snippets of rumors and talks from different sources. I also decided to ignore the negativity surrounding me and focus more on myself.
Unfortunately, this made me seem less approachable and more defensive than I wanted to be. I needed to defend myself from the false accusations that were being pointed at me and it was difficult to confront every single person.
How did our perceptions change after we confronted each other?
Jules:
After talking to Farah, I realized how easily this whole thing could have been resolved. I think the drama of the conflict was intoxicating and all those involved became reduced to fictional characters with three or four defining characteristics.I personally never went to talk Farah because I heard she had refused to talk about it and denied everything. I can’t speak for the past, but that wasn’t the case when she and I discussed everything that we knew, didn’t know, felt and thought about what happened.
Maybe for others the desire for payback outweighed the desire for a solution, or maybe personal relationships were unnecessarily put on the line. I’m not sure.
Farah:
After confronting Jules, I realized that I should have approached her much earlier. All of those stories that Jules was plotting against me did not quite make sense after understanding each other’s perspectives. The tension that I used to feel between us since the special GA in April disappeared, once we started having a more open conversation. We managed to understand each other’s point of view and reach a constructive solution that we both find to be satisfying.Farah: Do you think that I deserve the role?
Jules:
I have no idea if Farah will make a good president, but only because I am unqualified to make a judgment like that. I’ve spoken before about my utter ignorance on all things Student Government, so I really couldn’t say if Geo, Lingliang, Dean Kyle, my sister or anyone at all would make a good president.But I will say that at this point I’d like to see her judged for who she is and not for what happened when she tried to run for student body president.
How do you think we can put the tension to rest?
Jules:
I would like to see us talk about this; all the people we feel somehow got grouped into teams should be able to talk about what happened without feeling offended or lied to. I would really love to see a political solution as well.Farah:
The tension can be put to rest by moving away from rumors and more towards open conversations. I wish that more people talked to me when everything was going on because during that period I honestly needed my friends.I believe that handling negative feelings and thoughts in an appropriate manner instead of blaming one another and pointing fingers is essential for putting tension to rest. Most importantly, we should act in a more proactive manner and try as a community to find common ground and compromises that satisfy everyone.
What is one thing you wish you have done differently?
Jules:
I wish I had gone to Farah sooner instead of making her come to me. It would have made life so much easier.Farah:
I wish I took a proactive approach and handled the issue earlier rather than taking a defensive approach last April. I also wish I had this conversation with Jules earlier as we could have had this thing past us before even starting our senior year.What was the effect of the rumors?
Jules:
The incessant rumors took away from what I feel was truly at stake here. Many of us live with daily reminders of where unchecked political corruption can lead. Some of us live in these reminders.I am not a humanitarian and I don’t feel it’s my duty to protect others for their own sake; instead, I am shamelessly selfish — I’m probably not the only one — and I worry that if I don’t stand up to even the teeny, tiniest cases of corruption, of injustice, of the wishes of a small group taking priority over the wishes of many, then no one will stand up for me when my family and I are the victims I cannot imagine being.
If we are not comfortable with how the special GA regarding students on leave went, we have to stand up and say “Hey! This wasn’t right. Let’s do it again, and do it better this time.” We can’t waste time on whispers in the dining hall or threats from behind computer screens.
Farah:
I was also shocked that all of our community’s cosmopolitan pride disappeared, and classifications according to nationality started to appear. I felt disrespected as a student and as a person, and I felt judged for the background that I come from.I believe that we should all take this as a learning opportunity to make our community better. NYUAD is diverse, but when we are here on campus we leave our differences aside and function as a harmonious body of students.
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