 "Photo: Katie Dees")
In the wake of the Student Government Association Presidential Debate, one issue has moved to the forefront of this year's election: the Activity & Service Fee Budget Committee.
According to Title VIII of the SGA Statutes, the ASF Budget Committee is in charge of recommending a budget allocating ASF funds for approval by the SGA Senate.
The committee consists of members of the executive and legislative branches of SGA, including three seats filled by senators-at-large, as well as two seats reserved for students-at-large.
Kevin Wolkenfeld, a senator and running mate of presidential candidate Daniel Seeff, did not attempt to sit on the committee as one of the senators-at-large.
"I did not apply for the senator-at-large seat because, as many people know, the SGA insiders already know who they are going to pick ahead of time," Wolkenfeld wrote in an e-mail interview.
Michael Kilbride, a presidential candidate and the SGA chief of operations, sits on the committee as a student-at-large.
Kilbride said he waited until the last day of the application process to allow students from outside of SGA to apply for the position, but after only two students applied for the seats, he decided to apply.
Seeff said he and Wolkenfeld chose not to apply for the student-at-large seats in order to allow non-SGA members to hold the positions and because they felt they would not be selected.
SGA President Brian Peterson said it isn't uncommon for SGA officials to fill these at-large seats.
"They are not specifically stated that they need to be student government officials or not student government officials," Peterson said. "Last year, the two members that were serving on the committee as student-at-large positions, appointed by the president at the time, were also former members of student government."
Peterson said the selection committee, which consists of the SGA president, speaker of the senate and chief justice, looked for students with basic knowledge of the ASF budgeting process and those who had been financially trained by the Activity & Service Fee Business Office.
Another issue brought up in the debate was the availability of information about when the ASF Budget Committee meetings are held.
Sarah Bishop, a senator and chair of the ASF Budget Committee, said information about the meetings is posted on the bulletin board outside of the SGA office in the Student Union.
In addition, she said the chair or vice chair of the committee has to give a weekly report to the SGA Senate.
Seeff said the information given to the senate during these reports is not enough.
"Every year, the ASF committee has these major meetings and only shares bits and pieces of this information with senate," Seeff wrote. "Then … the ASF committee comes and shoves the $15 million budget down the senate's throat and tells us to ‘trust them' because they heard all the presentations."
Seeff also said that they want to "put a stop to spending nearly the entire budget over winter break when students are kicked out of the dorms."
Bishop said the meetings over break are more heavily attended by students than the meetings that take place during the semester, partially because registered student organizations present information to the committee during these meetings.
"They're not private. They're not secluded," Bishop said. "Many students actually come in and sit in the back of the meetings. There are more students that come to [winter break meetings] than come to the meetings on Fridays."
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16 comments
2. Both of you did not apply because you are not qualified.
3. Any good leader, would still apply even if all the odds were against themI hope people keep this in mind as they vote.