Nothing. Not a single thing has occurred since the publishing of the photos featuring members of the Student Government Association and Student Center for Educational Research and Advocacy posing with a caricature of Patrick Higgins as the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, at least not to remedy the situation. Sure, Pat Higgins has resigned, there was a rally against racism and a panel discussion on “Diversity,” but nothing has occurred in the vein of consequences for the students still enrolled at this University who were pictured drunk in a public office accompanied by their KKK whiteboard drawing.

Mike Gargano has said we have a zero-tolerance policy at UMass, which I think is great. I just had no idea that “zero-tolerance” meant that you sit in your office and hang out until the situation blows over. I’m glad I know now. Does that mean I can have a zero-tolerance policy for speeding tickets, bad grades, feeling fat, my mom being mad at me or people not wanting to go on dates with me? If so, I feel a lot better about life in general.

However, when it comes to idiotic jerks who pose drunk with a KKK drawing in an office that was set up for “research and education” and then cry foul when the campus sees the pictures and the truth, I don’t have a zero-tolerance policy; I have a “Get The Hell Out of My School, You Idiot Policy.”

My policy includes something called action, which is not something associated with an administrator like Mike Gargano. The pictures drew and quartered the campus; one quarter was outraged, one quarter was defensive of the pictured, one quarter didn’t care and one quarter had no idea what was going on, still doesn’t and furthermore doesn’t want to. I wish I didn’t care, but then I’d have an office on the third floor of Whitmore. And while I love some of the friends I have made at Housing Assignments, I’m pretty sure they would be less excited to see me if I hung out there all the time.

I was at the Rally Against Racism, and it was great to be with people who were angry and upset by what has occurred at our University. I marched into Whitmore with the other protestors, blew a kiss to Housing Assignments and headed into Gargano’s office to say hi and ask him if he had forgotten about the whole “picture thing.” I gave him the benefit of the doubt; he must have forgotten about it and that’s why all the students pictured weren’t promptly booted from our campus community.

To my dismay, he knew exactly why all these students were in his office, and he didn’t seem to care. He was lounging on his couch, flanked by secretaries or whoever they were. I’m glad he was comfortable; it must be hard work to not care about students all day. Coming up with ideas to make things more difficult is hard, too. I know from experience; I was the baby of my family.

We were hustled out of his office, not by the bored secretaries, but by the organizers of the protest, which shocked me. I was late for my design class because I wanted to hang out with Mike Gargano, and they were making me leave? I was pissed. What is the point of getting all rowdy and ready for fighting if you’re just going to show up and then leave so quickly? I’ve stayed longer at the houses of people I hate. I guess it’s a good idea to rally against racism, and then go home and not face one of the guys who angered you. The organizers said that he was just going to tell us lies, which was probably true, but I at least would have liked to join Gargano on his couch to be lied to.

I really am dumbfounded by this whole situation. What possesses students to get drunk in the office that they work in, draw pictures of themselves as members of the KKK and then to take photos of the whole event? Friends of the students involved want the student body to believe that it was merely a “joke” in response to Pat Higgins being called a racist all semester. That is the biggest piece of crap excuse I have ever heard. I guarantee that someone accused of being a Neo-Nazi would not shave his head in joking response to those allegations.

I think its great that Higgins resigned. However, I kind of expected him to resign along with the other elected officials of the nine drunks in the SGA/SCERA family photo album. That resignation should have been submitted by default because each and every one of those students should have been expelled from this University. Seamus Brennan’s refusal to resign is indicative of the lack of remorse he and the other students involved have for embarrassing the University. The jig is up; the SGA is an ineffectual club of resume hounds like Seamus Brennan who don’t care about our school.

The blame for this issue does not rest only with the members of the SGA. Mike Gargano is also responsible for these events for he allowed the SGA to deteriorate to such a level. The party in the SCERA office happened on his watch; the students should be expelled and he should resign. However, given Gargano’s staunch position on the couch, I don’t think things will be changing very soon.

What will the outcome of the surreal events of the past few weeks be? More silence about real issues, more rhetoric from Chancellor Gargano and a definite change of location for future SCERA/SGA benders. Cameras will not be allowed. As for Patrick Higgins, I wouldn’t worry about his future; this whole ordeal has probably made him the most promising young prospect the GOP has seen in a long time.

Thomas Naughton is a Collegian columnist.