The Observer, April 28, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 26
Free Speech Zone: USG officers accused of wasteful spending
hink Adelbert Hall, paid dinners at the Case Club, and all expense paid retreats to Montreal. Thinking administration? Think again, try Undergraduate Student Government. These self indulgent practices are rampant in other student boards, but today USG is under the magnifying glass.
USG has created barriers between themselves and their constituents. Every Tuesday night from the base camp of the administration in Adelbert Hall our student leaders, decked in suits, have lost sight of their primary responsibility: THE STUDENTS.
How does USG decide to spend money? Well, that's at their whim. The subsidiary committees are notorious for rewarding themselves with exorbitant dinners, but balk at such expenditures by student groups. However, no one is more absurd than the President, who spent a thousand dollars on "dinner meetings" and personal business cards, while in the process managing to "misplace" almost $300 dollars of Chipotle gift cards. And the kicker? USG dropped $800 on clothing for themselves, while denying funding requests for other student organizations to do the same.
Wonder where these practices were learned? Try the USG executive all expense paid retreat. This past summer, the current and previous years' exec boards took a trip to Montreal. On the trip, in addition to travel, room and board expenses, parking tickets were also paid for with student money.
This is money that could have been better spent towards improving the campus and your college experience, but instead is going into the stomachs of student leaders who have decided that they and their friends deserve "benefits" for their Herculean efforts.
Before you slam your copy of The Observer in the deserving face of your elected reps, think about how they got there. You elected them, or failed to prevent their election by abstaining from the election process.
These practices are widespread among the student boards at our university. This will continue to happen until we, the students, begin to hold our student leaders accountable for their actions. If you want your money to work for you, then talk to your reps and the advisors of these organizations and be heard. Bitch, kick, scream, yell; do whatever you need to be heard. It's your money, it's your college experience.
