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Dollars Should Bring Change
This past week, the student body learned that over $800,000 in unspent club funds has accumulated in the reserve accounts of six advisory boards. These reserves are intended to provide backup funds in the event that a student club falls into a financial crisis. But it seems that $800,000 is a little more than enough for a figurative “rainy day.”
The frantic search conducted by administrators and the student body to find useful employment for this money presents the perfect opportunity to revamp the current system by which clubs are granted funds. The most important point is this: This money belongs to the students of Georgetown University. The surplus funds were created by students and intended to be spent on students and should therefore not be redirected toward any other cause.
Presently, the advisory boards are responsible for overseeing student clubs and approving their funding requests. Students must endure a strenuous process in order to pitch an idea to these boards, jumping through hoops just to prove that their cause will be beneficial to the campus community. Rather than resting in the hands of students themselves, the decision about whether a group holds any validity in the community is left mostly to administrators.
If more student groups were granted startup funds, students would have a cornucopia of passions and pastimes to pursue. Clubs should not have to endure the cross-examination imposed by administrators and could instead be given the opportunity to draw in an audience toward causes that might be slightly off the beaten track. Fresh perspectives on the allocations and unconventional diversions would engage students by enriching the dialogue on campus. There seems to be an accepted construct of what is “educational” or “intellectual” that doesn’t account for students’ capacity to explore areas of interest that aren’t necessarily mainstream but that are worthy pursuits nonetheless.
Perhaps the solution to this problem can be found in the Georgetown University Student Association. By putting more power in the hands of our student association, we are giving our classmates more authority over clubs. By making GUSA directly accountable to its constituents, these alterations would enhance GUSA’s role on campus while securing multifaceted discourse at Georgetown.
While it is important to have reserve funds secured, it is absurd for so much money to remain untouched. This points to the need for reserve caps. The money should ultimately be used to enhance the student experience at Georgetown. After all, if it isn’t being used to fuel our passions, it may as well be nonexistent.
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Great article on the use of funds.
GUSA is actually planning on diverting some of the excess funds to use on a GUSA Club Funds pool, or 'Fund of Second Resort.' Right now, we're looking to get $15,000 as a starter fund.
The fund would be for clubs (or students with innovative ideas) whose funding requests were denied or curtailed by their respective funding boards (SAC, GPB, CSJ, etc.). Right now, if a group is denied funding, they have very little recourse.
Under this plan, a club denied funding could contact their respective Senator put up a bill for funding in front of the Finance & Appropriations Committee. This will, as you point out, make Senators much more accountable -- and useful -- to their constituents, and hopefully address the concerns many groups have had in not receiving the funds they need while funding boards accumulate hundreds of thousands in reserves.
Wow I was reading about this:
http://www.thehoya.com/node/6821
Wow! For once the Student Association did exactly what it promised in exposing these funds, I hope that they get the rest done and make sure that the funds are better used in the future. I think this is a pretty big victory and I'm glad that it was the Student Association that was involved in it.
"Perhaps the solution to this problem can be found in the Georgetown University Student Association. By putting more power in the hands of our student association, we are giving our classmates more authority over clubs."
I agree. Right now I don't think students have any control over SAC. Of course there are students on SAC but there isn't accountability. Students don't elect the members of SAC and they aren't even appointed by GUSA. They appoint themselves from year to year, and that's just completely unfair to the student body and needs to be changed. How can the body that disburses $200,000 a year and funds and controls most clubs on campus not have any accountability to students? Explain to me how this makes sense!
GUSA used to appoint the chair of SAC, and was doing so as recently as the 2005-2006 term. They also used to appoint the Chairmen of the Senior Class Committee and the Senior Class Gift Committee. All three positions, as well as all the positions on their respective boards, are now appointed by administrators. The SAC Chair and SCC Chair are appointed by CSP (which is a euphamism for Erika Cohen-Derr or "Mr. Angry at Everyone He Doesn't Love"/Bill McCoy). The Senior Class Gift Committee is under the firm controll of the office of advancement. The only connection between the "Senior Class Gift" and the senior class is that seniors pay for it.
Students used to have control over many of these boards. If the Rajan Administration had spent more time retaining GUSA's authority and less time making crappy movies, then the current student government might still have some of those responsibilities.
I agree with the post above me, those powers never should have devolved from the student government. Whose idea was that?!?
It does seem though from the article posted a couple places above me though that GUSA is, thankfully, trying to reassert some of its control. Hopefully SAC and the rest of those committees will be brought back under the control of the student body soon rather than remain renegade, self-appointing ingroups.
As a senior I have to say I especially agree with the lack of accountability of Senior Class Gift, which is chosen 100% by the administrators. I don't have any confidence in the people who are running that, even though they're nice people. The Senior Class Committee also does a great job, but I think that considering they spend about half a million bucks over the course of the year on events for seniors, there should be more student input on its leadership there, too. (Again, SCC is full of awesome folk, but is simply appointed by the people who were there the year before.)
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