As expected, the Georgetown University Student Association again fell far short of excellence Wednesday evening.
Last month, GUSA voted down the Student Activities Commission budget for the 2009-2010 school year, decrying student clubs’ unwillingness to spend their excess reserves. Following the rejection, the Funding Board was charged with reassessing and re-evaluating the budget. Any attempts by GUSA leaders to coordinate with the board on the issue, however, were unsuccessful.
On Wednesday, the same budget went to a vote and was passed by the GUSA Senate, in spite of the flaws identified the month before.
GUSA was right in the first round of voting.
The budget that the Funding Board pitched to GUSA demanded far too much funding – close to $375,000 – given the hundreds of thousands of dollars in reserves available to individual clubs. That being said, student clubs should still be given a safety net – a smaller one – to address unexpected emergencies. As it is, however, the enormous club reserves sit in checking accounts, accruing no interest.
The fundamental problem that Wednesday evening revealed lies beyond the budget itself. The vote demonstrated an absence of streamlined communication among members within the GUSA hierarchy. The main reason that GUSA Senator and Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Matt Wagner (SFS ’11) cited for the lack of Funding Board movement on the budget, for example, was his lack of initiative in communicating the budget’s failure to the board. Had the board met at some point during the month between the initial rejection and the second vote, further discussion would likely have led to needed changes to the budget. The problem is not limited to Wagner – this sort of attitude reflects deep-seated problems in GUSA’s internal communication and efficiency.
Furthermore, GUSA let time run short before it called for a second vote. With 11 newly elected senators unaware of the intricacies of this particular budget vote, the possibility of productive dialogue on the issue was inhibited even further. Rather than address the problems with the budget, the senate passed the measures because of time conflicts and limited opportunities for future meetings. It is the end of the semester, after all.
At the end of the day, the failed budget reflects severe institutional shortcomings for GUSA. Such limitations are no secret on campus: Perception is reality, and GUSA is more than living up to its image.
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