Editorial:

Fessehaye's work at KCOU presents conflict in chief of staff position

Published Feb. 3, 2009

Our student governing body is about to engage in an egregious arrangement should Missouri Students Association President Jordan Paul allow KCOU assistant general manager Joe Fessehaye at the helm of relations between MSA and its auxiliaries if the second chief of staff position passes MSA Senate.

We understand Fessehaye has experience with KCOU. We all heard about it when he used it as a huge part -- the focus, even -- of his recent campaign for MSA president. We all know communication between KCOU and MSA has, to put it mildly, been less than ideal.

But placing someone who is assistant general manager and chief operator at KCOU as second chief of staff, a liaison between MSA and auxiliaries is such an abhorrent conflict of interest that it's laughable.

Fessehaye will be anything but an appropriate person for this position, and that's without even delving into his understanding -- or lack thereof -- of MSA that emerged during his campaign.

We're all for more communication and familiarity between MSA and its auxiliaries. No one wants to see the utter debacle that has been KCOU continue or much less spread to the other auxiliaries. But apparently MSA doesn't have a problem with that, which is more than slightly uncomfortable.

How can Fessehaye possibly represent the best interest of MSA when he's still working with the radio station? What happens when the interest of KCOU comes up against other things? Will Fessehaye swoop in with an unbiased opinion on behalf of the best interests of MSA and the other auxiliaries? It seems more than unlikely.

The blatant problems with this set up are overwhelming and concerning. There is a fine line between experience and conflict of interest. And if Paul and MSA are really committed to creating a more open and comfortable environment between them and their auxiliaries, it's not time to make things more complicated and more tied up in bias.

He can still do what's best for KCOU and help better communications between the organizations by focusing on what he's doing now. Moving back over to MSA, he would still take that focus with him and that's completely unacceptable.

Fessehaye ran his campaign with a focus on KCOU outlook, and that personal interest has no place in MSA.