Some Inauguration Visitors Feel Misled

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Most of these comments, except for the ones who were actually written by the attendees are about how "us youngins" need to learn and grow up, and get over it. However, I would like to inform all of you who are so quick to say we are stupid and naive, that as college students, we do not have oodles and oodles of cash lying around. For the most part, OUR PARENTS paid for this Conference. Do you actually think 5,000 college students had $3,000 lying around with $500 extra for plane fare? AND Do you actually believe that our parents would have spent their hard earned money for all of us to go on this trip if they didn't believe that we were getting "exclusive" special treatment?
According to some of you, there are two generations here who are naive, dumb, stupid, and retarded. Which of those generations do you belong to, and do you feel honored to be among them? So, before you start trashing an entire generation. the higher education system, Democrats (which by the way is COMPLETELY unrelated), parents, and those students who should just get over it, just take a look at the big picture and try to put yourself in our situation.
I was one of those scholars who froze for 14 hours on the National Mall to take pictures of the swearing in ceremony on a Jumbotron when I could have been inside in the warmth and taking pictures of my own television. I was one of those students, who carted a $700 dress up to Washington D.C. from South Carolina for exclusive Black Tie Inaugural Gala, only to be told that 1.) Obama wouldn't be there and 2.) It became Black Tie invited. I was one of those scholars who waited no less than two hours in the cold to get into the area at UMD to listen to Colin Powell and Al Gore address us. And I was also the one who had to tell her parents "I can't believe I asked you to spend almost $4000 to send me here for this Conference. I cannot wait to be back in my dorm at school and out of Washington D.C."
Although I will forever be able to say that I was in Washington D.C. for Obama's inauguration, the event will always be surrounded by the memories of those 4 long, tiresome days.
I will not be signing petitions or suing the organization over this. I will take my mistakes and the mistakes of others in stride. Yes, I would have preferred that the organization be up front with everything before a decision had to be made. But unfortunately, we were all lead to believe something else, and trying to find a place to put the blame is ridiculous. We, as the youth who apparently made this election what it turned out to be, must concentrate on bettering ourselves. As Al Gore, Colin Powell, Luke Russert, and many more said to us over the course of those 4 days, We are the leaders of tomorrow. The next generation. We must become even more educated than our predecessors. For we will someday run this country. It is our responsibility to be extraordinary, and so extraordinary we shall be.

Rebecca of SC 10:00AM January 22, 2009

I have news for all the people posting who blame this on stupid college kids--everyone's parents also read these e-mails and looked at the website and also believed that we were getting some sort of special treatment. We all were able to apply to this program because we are in honor societies and fraternities in various universities across the country. We are not dumb or stupid young adults, we were clearly misled as well as our parents. They called our dance an inaugural ball up until we arrived at the conference, then they just called it a "gala" for the first time. We were told we had "exclusive" and "special" access to the inauguration and instead we had to wander around DC in the middle of the night to fight the crowds just like millions of other people. We had an emergency number on our nametags to call if we were lost or hurt or needed help, and every single student I spoke to at the conference tried to call that number at one time or another and no one ever got anything other than a voice recording or a busy signal. We were told to bring emergency medical contacts and forms but when we tried to give them to the conference when we arrived, they told us to keep them, making them useless if something actually happened. This conference had no regard for our safety and clearly did not care what happened to its students, and you can call us stupid college kids all you want, but unless you've been receiving these e-mails for over a year, there is no way you can possibly understand the extent to which we've been deceived.

Caitlin of OH 8:42AM January 22, 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28670054/
A lot of scholars, including me, felt this way. Also, the Conference website was apparently misleading enough for the AP reporter who wrote this article.
Excluding the whole issue of being misled, the entire event was a huge mess. The following is a quote from a letter that one scholar is preparing:
"Everything regarding this conference was unorganized and chaotic. Getting from one place to the next was a nightmare and the speaking events with the two main political figures advertised, Colin Powell and Al Gore, consisted of not only our “intimate” group of 5,000, but also two other groups approximately the same size as ours and included kids as young as twelve. The presentations were given in a manner that a twelve year old could understand rather than challenging the students at the university level as many of us expected. The Question and Answer session with Al Gore consisted of two questions out of the thousands that were submitted. There was nothing neither personal nor up close about these presentations."
"Instead, we were on our own to find transportation to the event and fight for a spot in the crowd all on our own. We were not given directions on how to accomplish this and many of us were left wandering the D.C. streets at 3 in the morning trying to get as close as possible and being sent in twenty different directions. We were also left on our own to fight the mob of people to make our way back to the hotel we were staying at."
" I missed out on that event because the transportation that we were told we would have was not available to us and nothing else was supplied as an alternative. My roommate informed me I did not miss anything though as the bus she took to the Gala was lost for over an hour and a half."
"The lack of security at this conference was intolerable. When I checked in for the conference, although I offered my medical information sheet consisting of any medical problems I suffered, any medication I am on, my doctor, my insurance, and my emergency contact information which was stated was mandatory to bring with us when we checked in, it was denied. I was told to hold on to it, and it was never requested that I turn it in at any point in time. I was checked in only on one other day when I went over and asked to be checked in. We were told our emergency contacts would be notified in the case where we did not check in, but it is impossible to do so when they did not even have this information available to them. Any one of us could have been left behind, have been kidnapped, or even killed, and no one would know until we did not show up at home five days later. Although we went there as young adults, this conference had a duty to ensure our safety and it failed to do so."
Were we naive and gullible? Maybe. But we didn't deserve ALL THAT.

Jay of WA 1:54AM January 22, 2009

I am one of the Scholars who attended this nonsense and for one, the website did state students who attended this Conference will go to the "Official" Inaugural Ball when the invitations were being sent out. So when people were signing up for this, they looked at the website and were informed that they would attend "Official" Inaugural Ball indeed. The contents of the website were changed as the Conference date closed in, and the "Official" was changed to "Private."
As for the Conference itself, even if you set aside the issue of Inaugural tickets, the entire matter was a huge disorganized mess. The following are some quotes from a letter one of the scholars are preparing:
"Everything regarding this conference was unorganized and chaotic. Getting from one place to the next was a nightmare and the speaking events with the two main political figures advertised, Colin Powell and Al Gore, consisted of not only our “intimate” group of 5,000, but also two other groups approximately the same size as ours and included kids as young as twelve. The presentations were given in a manner that a twelve year old could understand rather than challenging the students at the university level as many of us expected. The Question and Answer session with Al Gore consisted of two questions out of the thousands that were submitted. There was nothing neither personal nor up close about these presentations."
"The lack of security at this conference was intolerable. When I checked in for the conference, although I offered my medical information sheet consisting of any medical problems I suffered, any medication I am on, my doctor, my insurance, and my emergency contact information which was stated was mandatory to bring with us when we checked in, it was denied. I was told to hold on to it, and it was never requested that I turn it in at any point in time. I was checked in only on one other day when I went over and asked to be checked in. We were told our emergency contacts would be notified in the case where we did not check in, but it is impossible to do so when they did not even have this information available to them. Any one of us could have been left behind, have been kidnapped, or even killed, and no one would know until we did not show up at home five days later. Although we went there as young adults, this conference had a duty to ensure our safety and it failed to do so."
In fact, the whole affair was so grossly disorganized, many scholars bitterly called it, "University Oh My God my feet are killing me Conference." The organizers were not prepared for logistical challenges that sheer number of 5,000 scholars presented, and chain of communication between the field operation and their logistical staff quickly broke down whenever the situation required transporting the bulk of scholars, and information provided to the field operatives and scholars were often inaccurate and out of date. Mass confusion at the field operation was THE NORM.

Jay of 1:22AM January 22, 2009

I guess you're right: I and the other scholars were tricked by the weasel statements. They never explicitly mentioned that we were going to an official ball or that we had front row seats or something, but believe me, the representatives on the phone for the conference (words which cannot be reproduded) led us to believe that we would have roped-off sections and exclusive access to the Inauguration. Didn't happen.
Now, this could have been an overbooking situation where they underestimated the sheer amount of interest in this historic inauguration, and foolishly believed that they could get tickets for 5,000 students. It didn't work, which is fine by me, but they didn't inform us of this situation. No e-mail, no letter, nothing. What happened here was maliciousness or incompetence, or a combination of both.
We should have been more vigilant and maybe as Americans we've been pampered and presumptive. But, believe me, had you been put in the same situation--told by a recognized prestigious organization, backed up a REAL honor society, that you were going as a "special guest" (their written words) to the Inauguration, you would have believed them. And we believed them.
Had we known the full details of how this whole conference was supposed to work out in advance, which was not provided by the website or the representatives on the phone, we would have been able to make an informed decision. But we didn't, Jimmy, and that's what makes this whole affair really disgusting and why it's not OUR fault (abusers' favorite argument) and why you shouldn't be feeling all smug that we got screwed.
Something tells me your sense of righteous vindication is created more out of a bitterness and jealosity that students more responsible and academically successful than you and who could afford $3,000 actually were a part of the festivities and you weren't.
Well, I was in the front row of the public section to see Obama become president and you weren't, so there!
(I'm being facetious there in case you didn't know.)

Brett R. of MA 1:07AM January 22, 2009

i am also one of the students who attended this program, but I, on the other hand, was pleased about the experience. I feel that if you honestly expected to be a "special guest," $2800 is WAAAYY to little to be spending! people were coughing up over $50,000 for a ticket. From being here, I realized that although our generation is being applauded for considering change, we are also a bunch of selfish brats who think that the world revolves around us.
For me, the fact that i was THERE, and i had a place to stay was good enough for me.
It is laughable that the "I feel you!!" person said we received less when people were actually camping out in people's backyards to have a place to stay! You stayed in a 5 star hotel! Suck it up and get over yourself!

of CA 12:58AM January 22, 2009

You all have no idea what kind of crap we had to put up with over those for days. We were misled, we were used, and we were abused. We were assured we'd get to see the inauguration and attend an inaugural ball. We got 2 things; Jack and shit, and I'm pretty sure Jack left town. I was standing out by the security gate or whatever at D&6th from roughly 5:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. It was cold as hell, people were getting angry, and there were police officers and army officials just sitting up in a building, taking pictures of us, stuffing their faces with food, and laughing at us for the entirety of my tenure at that location. January the 20th was one of the most disappointing days of my life. All of the students that were there for the UPIC were essentially swindled out of roughly $3,000 each. There's a facebook page for anybody willing to read about what all went down. It's UPIC Scam. Please read, and give all of us who were let down your opinions, hopefully in the most supportive manner.

Captain of the Carpathians of AR 12:36AM January 22, 2009

I hope something sues them.
The agency running the program has hosted quality programs in the past. Apparently, as I cleared with a staff member, they recently switched from a non-profit 501 (c)(3) to a profit organization. Reduced quality at the expense of making a fast buck on us.
Oh yeah, being a "retarded" college student is awesome. In fact, since I am educated, I am well AWARE that the term "retarded" is technically an outdated psychology/medical term for individuals that have an IQ under 70, and you should know as well. The proper term is "intellectually disabled", but clearly you are not a member of the academic community, nor have you earned a spot in the medical community. Those diagnosed with an intellectual disability deserve just as much dignity and respect as anybody else.

Liz of PA 8:57PM January 21, 2009

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." The disappointing thing is the Democrats lead you to beleive the are working for equality. The Republicans make no such promises, they offer the opportunity to become equal. One fosters a passive stance and the other a proactive stance.

Mike of CO 12:01PM January 21, 2009

maybe the invite listed some of the activites, inviting you to the inauguration, but not to the balls. The ball were not free or included. Have friends who attended tickets arranged from $40-1500. Sorry for you misunderstanding.

LaWana White of LA 10:11AM January 21, 2009