It was an active night for the student fees budget of the Rutgers University Student Assembly yesterday, as student leaders approved three special events that cost more than $11,000 each and discussed the value of a $20,000 allocated for a special retreat.
“There was intense debate, but … no one took anything personally,” Assembly Chair Werner Born said at the meeting, held in the Student Activities Center on the College Avenue campus. “There were very important issues raised, but at the end of the day, we will move forward with everything as planned.”
The retreat is a part of the assembly’s attempts to build better relationships between members, said Internal Affairs Chair Josh Slavin, a Livingston College senior.
“Functioning relationships between members is essential to student government,” Slavin said. “We’ve tried on-campus activities, and it did not foster the type of relationships we want to see between people that will work together in three-hour meetings for the entire year. It’s the best way to get students excited about student government.”
The retreat was already contracted with the camp “Happiness is Camping” when University Affairs Chair Ben West and Representative Chris Salloum proposed the resolution to forbid the assembly to spend more than $5,000, but it was not voted upon.
Some of the money for the retreat will be donated to a children’s cancer foundation by the camp.
“The reason I opposed the $20,000 retreat for RUSA is because we had a huge discussion about all these other events that are attended by 800 to 900 students,” West said. “I don’t think we’re using this money as best as we can. We should be using this money for something more community action-based. We’re funding our own vacation, and it’s not fair to students because $20,000 equals one full-ride scholarship for one student for one year.”
The assembly attempted to close the retreat discussion to the public, which — after a miscount — did not pass with a 9-7 vote. Recording Secretary Meet Shah could not confirm who posed the idea because he said he did not write it down.
“When you listen to what they are talking … they’re using words like entice and excited,” Latino Student Council Assembly Representative Braulio Salas said. “These are student leaders and they shouldn’t have to feel enticed, excited and worrying about attendance.”
Last year, six councils had individual $5,000 retreats, each with its own budget. This year, $20,000 was allocated to the retreat, but it is expected to cost less based on how many members show up. Between about 150 members, this retreat will cost $121 per person.
“An on-campus retreat would save tons of money and still have the same effects,” Salas said. “We’re doing a disservice to the student body because we are supposed to be representing them; by signing a check for a retreat without telling anybody or discussing it publicly, we’re doing them a disservice.”
Three events allocating the student fees for events was another resolution that passed during the meeting.
The events approved were the Premedical Development Conference for $11,170; the Latin Gala, approved for $11,540; and Association of Indians at Rutgers’ Zamana, approved for $17,290; all of which totaled $40,000. All passed unanimously except for the Zamana event.
The events all require tickets from students to enter, and all proceeds will go to the organizer’s individual respective charities.
“Nothing against AIR,” said Vice Chair of the Assembly Payal Patel, an Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, who was the lone vote against the Zamana special event. “To give one cultural organization about $10,000 and then give another one of a similar magnitude in terms of attendance, $7,000 more seems unfair just because they want to have it at the State Theatre.”
She has performed with AIR for two years, so she knows the logistics of the event and thinks the State Theatre creates excessive spending when the Nicholas Music Center and other venues are also available, she said.
In order to qualify for special event status, the event must meet two of four prerequisites: It must have a budget of more than $15,000 and expect more than 250 participants, be co-sponsored by five organizations, be an annual event and have 50 percent or more of its budget paid for from an outside source.
“We granted three different organizations special events status, which is great, which means there’s great events coming up,” Born said. “They are all traditional events that had great turnaround in the past, and we will move forward with our retreat as well.”
The Assembly Allocations Board had $40,000 to give out to special events, which is allocated every semester. If the organizations do not use all of the money for their events, they are required to give all the money back to be used for the next semester.
Members of the Allocations Board audit all special events for transparency, Born said. There are multiple members on the Allocations Board specifically to audit the 300 organizations funded from student fees.
Other resolutions that were passed at the event are the election guidelines for campus councils’ first-year student elections.
The next assembly meeting will feature Director of the Department of Transportation Services Jack Molenaar as a guest speaker.
RUSA to ‘retreat’ with $20K in student fees
Published: Thursday, September 24, 2009
Updated: Thursday, September 24, 2009
23 comments
Ok, then, say I'm a homosexual Jewish Argentinian Engineering major living on College Ave, then I have 5 representations. Not much better and the point still stands.
If the "special population" or "cultural council" members had any interest in ethics or any idea what a conflict of interest was they would have abstained from voting on their own events. But they didn't, so the point still stands.
And I didn't say the retreat issue wasn't wrong either, that's also very wrong. Student leaders shouldn't have to go to retreats about something they said they were all so "enthused" about when they were giving their speeches to get elected.
Also, I'm not any of the people you think I am. I'm an actual student with the ability to think and consider ideas and philosophy that's not affiliated with any of these organizations. I have no agenda except to care about where my money is going. To add to your presumptiousness, I'm a member of a minority. Stop trying to marginalize me for actually thinking and not taking your word for it.
It's a farfetched scenario, sure, but do you guys understand the point of overrepresentation and why Congress doesn't have a special seat for minorities and "special" groups, that's why it's only geographical and not based on race, creed, gender, and etc.? This was why the Constitution was such a hot topic at last year's RUSA, because people didn't want problems like overrepresentation.
Eric Straub was right when he said RUSA was a suggestion box with $1.8 million in student fees in the bank, so why let emotions and lobbies run our student government and not philosophies and ideas? Or we can just keep giving out 5 figures to events that appeal to "traditionally underrepresented groups" and "would be pumped if more people showed up that dont have to be a part of our group."
Its not Karen that comes up with these, its the executive board that decides where to go and all that.