Comments on: GUSA drafts bill to give itself complete control of Student Activities Fee allocation

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:35:12 +0000

If I recall, some 2100 students voted in the past presidential election. That’s not too shabby.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:41:14 +0000

That’s a good point… but at least I had the chance to vote. It’s are own fault if we don’t care.

By: GU

GU — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:00:54 +0000

Who knows who any of the people in GUSA are? Not exactly like they make an effort to find out what students in their areas actually want…and HOW many people vote for those GUSA elections? Someone was elected last year by like under 10 votes..

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:09:51 +0000

@disgruntled When you put it that way I actually really agree with you. I follow GUSA a bit cuz I’m a gov major and love politics so I understand all your grievances against SAC – I agree. And it shouldn’t just be SAC but all the advisory boards. The student fee should be controlled by people we elect. I don’t even know the names of all the advisory boards, and yet they get to have my money. THAT’s not right.

By: Pabs

Pabs — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:38:18 +0000

@Brennerable- I don’t find it that much of a waste of time to be someone in tune with the student organizations of Georgetown. It is a sign of being a responsible citizen. We all know it starts at the local level. I think it is great that there are people who care enough about issues that effect the school and future generations of Hoyas.

By: Disgruntled

Disgruntled — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:59:15 +0000

Props to GUSA for the balls to finally lay all the cards on the table.

Since 2006, when GUSA passed that vote theoretically allowing the power to take full control of the funding process, it’s stayed its hand, patiently asking the advisory boards to change in line with what the students wanted. It stayed its hand when it discovered the $800,000 in reserve fees unspent while clubs went underfunded. It stayed its hand when SAC pledged to significantly spend down its reserve funds but then renegged on the promise (and simultaneously took away clubs’ space in Leavey, natch). It stayed its hand when SAC illegally voted to change its Constitution, allowing the SAC chair to appoint their sucessor, who then chooses every member of SAC, and having closed door votes. It stayed its hand when, in a small measure of hoped-for change, GUSA managed to persuade SAC to agree to a joint committee between itself, GUSA and Club Leaders to choose the next chair. SAC, in September, broke this promise.

GUSA has played nice guy for way too long. It’s time to play hardball.

With all the votes to pass the budget, GUSA should go farther and have the Finance & Appropriations Committee earmark the funds it gives away for use only if the advisory boards comply with certain minimum accountability standards. It’s only 1/8th of the funds SAC gets, but still–that’s a pretty penny.

By: Brennerable

Brennerable — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:15:14 +0000

Children and their games. Spend your time studying for the LSAT or the MCAT instead; your bubble will burst very soon and GUSA will mean nothing.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:10:35 +0000

Blair, wouldn’t this bylaws amendment mean more centralization for funding???

By: Blair

Blair — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:37:29 +0000

Agree with Pabs. A lot of available funds are never used because students don’t know who to ask. A lack of centralization will continue to hinder the effective use of Georgetown’s limited funds.

On a lighter note, there should be a New Federalism party at Georgetown!

By: Pabs

Pabs — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:37:14 +0000

All this stuff is non-sense. What we need is to dissolve all these student bureaucracies and create a Georgetown Student Union. There would be a clear chain of command and clear, transparent processes for getting stuff done.

I honestly think this would be the best thing for Georgetown. Leadership roles would still be in tact in the form of chairs and committees, and campus-wide elections for elected positions would be taken more seriously if students were able to clearly see how these bodies interacted and how all these groups on campus would have a stake in them.