Thursday, September 24, 2009
Funding for campus and community groups from Student Senate has been reduced this year in order to ensure general student fees do not increase. The clamp down on fees seems like the appropriate action in a continually difficult economic environment, but Student Senate and groups in general should be careful to make sure that every dollar of the $742,000 allocated for student groups this year yields a maximum effect.
For Student Senate, and specifically members of the finance committee, this requires a sense of restraint that seems to have been lacking in the past.
During the Fall 2008 semester, Student Senate quickly distributed nearly all of the money allocated for campus and community groups. According to former Student Senate treasurer Alex Porte, the problem arose from a “huge jump in demand” coupled with a lack of proper budgeting, especially by members of the Student Senate’s finance committee.
Student Senate appears to have learned some valuable lessons following last year’s experience.
According to current treasurer Mitch Knopp, Student Senate is being more judicious with funds this year. “Naturally when you’re dealing with less resources, we’re going to have to be more selective,” Knopp said.
This approach has allowed Student Senate to retain $115,000 of its budget for requests later, an improved situation from last year. It also allows the finance committee and Student Senate in general to exercise appropriate flexibility, allowing some groups to be funded fully or allow only marginal cuts in order to spread the pain.
Though this choosy approach has helped bring restraint and savings to the Student Senate campus and community group allocation system, it also raises questions concerning transparency and merit in the funding process.
In an e-mail to The Kansan, Knopp explained that the finance committee does take into account “the number of students that the event or organization will affect, the location of the event..., (and) the success of the events in the past.”
These are plausible guidelines for the use of student funds, but it is difficult to tell how Student Senate has applied them, especially when it is picking and choosing which groups to fund and what levels.
Student Senate, and its finance committee, should be recognized for pulling back from the brink they approached last year. By making targeted cuts in areas such as campus and community groups, Student Senate has been able to hold the line on increased fees in an environment that has left no one unaffected by tough budgets.
In order to continue with this newfound restraint, a true change in the culture of student government is necessary.
Student Senate should adopt a new mentality in budgeting by attempting to restrain the sprawl of legislation that has developed. This could mean limiting the amount of legislation in one semester.
Students need to think about how their student government is run at the University, first by reviewing where their money is spent.
With a new approach from Student Senate and a new engagement from students, it might be possible to reinvigorate discourse in student government.
— — Alex Doherty for The Kansan Editorial Board
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