2008 Woodie Awards
Referendum results disappoint; still the Cauldron perseveres
Issue date: 5/15/07 Section: Opinion
The verdict is in.
The Cauldron lost the Senate Bill 31 referendum, and the controversial bill will now go into effect. By upholding the bill, the Judicial Council handed 35 percent of the student activity fee funds over to the administration. This action implicitly states that the Constitution no longer holds the power its authors intended.
This was, indeed, a devastating blow for the Cauldron and for each of its staff members. Considering the bill practically singled out the newspaper (no offense to Laurels), the Cauldron is hard-pressed to not take it personally. No longer satisfied to hurt our feelings, it sometimes seems as though certain members of the University community are now aiming to break our spirits. But we strive on.
The issues that arose during and as a result of the hearing should not be forgotten. Senate Bill 31 effectively removes much of the Student Government Association's power to control the Student Activity Fee funds. The SGA was set up by the Constitution's founders to ensure that students would have a system in place that would allow them to elect representatives who could control their money. This is not an unfamiliar idea, as it is modeled after our American political system. Now, the SGA's own representatives have voluntarily ceded much of that power.
The Cauldron was under the impression that changes this significant would require a constitutional amendment, approved by a majority vote of the student body, just as changes to our U.S. Constitution required ratification. The SGA's own constitution seems to indicate the same.
We have since learned that this is not the case. Based on recommendations by a task force, the Office of Student Affairs predetermined that it would single-handedly seize a large amount of money from the SGA's control, with or without approval by the Senate or the students it represents.
To retain a semblance of control, senators unanimously voted to hand over funds willingly. They justified the action as "changing with the times." This decision seems to represent more regression than progress. Prior to the drafting of the Constitution, all Student Activity Fee funds were handled by the Vice President of Student Affairs. One year, there was upheaval when then Vice President Jack Hank decided not to fund the literary magazine.
The SGA's new design was intended to eliminate the possibility of such a scandal by allowing students to manage their own money. They could decide how and where they wanted it spent rather than handing it over to Daddy, so to speak. Just six years later, that system is falling. Apparently Daddy has had enough.
Now we see that the SGA does not really have the power we once imagined. Its representatives have maintained the illusion of control by drafting and passing a bill that gives money to the administration, but we now know that that money was to be taken were it not given. Essentially, this knowledge reveals that our SGA is more a figurehead than the truly governing body it once was.
Regardless, the results of the SB 31 referendum hearing are, as of now, final and binding. The affected organizations must make do. The Cauldron will continue to produce a quality newspaper designed to serve the student body for a long as it can. That is our purpose. The student government also has a purpose, namely controlling the Student Activity Fee. But, the SGA seems to think that task is better suited to the administrators they took it from.
The SGA is now far from the all-powerful deciding force behind student funds it was created to be. The system has changed, with or without the approval of the students, and we have to ask: what will change next?
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Cauldron editorial staff. All other columns and opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the author.
The Cauldron lost the Senate Bill 31 referendum, and the controversial bill will now go into effect. By upholding the bill, the Judicial Council handed 35 percent of the student activity fee funds over to the administration. This action implicitly states that the Constitution no longer holds the power its authors intended.
This was, indeed, a devastating blow for the Cauldron and for each of its staff members. Considering the bill practically singled out the newspaper (no offense to Laurels), the Cauldron is hard-pressed to not take it personally. No longer satisfied to hurt our feelings, it sometimes seems as though certain members of the University community are now aiming to break our spirits. But we strive on.
The issues that arose during and as a result of the hearing should not be forgotten. Senate Bill 31 effectively removes much of the Student Government Association's power to control the Student Activity Fee funds. The SGA was set up by the Constitution's founders to ensure that students would have a system in place that would allow them to elect representatives who could control their money. This is not an unfamiliar idea, as it is modeled after our American political system. Now, the SGA's own representatives have voluntarily ceded much of that power.
The Cauldron was under the impression that changes this significant would require a constitutional amendment, approved by a majority vote of the student body, just as changes to our U.S. Constitution required ratification. The SGA's own constitution seems to indicate the same.
We have since learned that this is not the case. Based on recommendations by a task force, the Office of Student Affairs predetermined that it would single-handedly seize a large amount of money from the SGA's control, with or without approval by the Senate or the students it represents.
To retain a semblance of control, senators unanimously voted to hand over funds willingly. They justified the action as "changing with the times." This decision seems to represent more regression than progress. Prior to the drafting of the Constitution, all Student Activity Fee funds were handled by the Vice President of Student Affairs. One year, there was upheaval when then Vice President Jack Hank decided not to fund the literary magazine.
The SGA's new design was intended to eliminate the possibility of such a scandal by allowing students to manage their own money. They could decide how and where they wanted it spent rather than handing it over to Daddy, so to speak. Just six years later, that system is falling. Apparently Daddy has had enough.
Now we see that the SGA does not really have the power we once imagined. Its representatives have maintained the illusion of control by drafting and passing a bill that gives money to the administration, but we now know that that money was to be taken were it not given. Essentially, this knowledge reveals that our SGA is more a figurehead than the truly governing body it once was.
Regardless, the results of the SB 31 referendum hearing are, as of now, final and binding. The affected organizations must make do. The Cauldron will continue to produce a quality newspaper designed to serve the student body for a long as it can. That is our purpose. The student government also has a purpose, namely controlling the Student Activity Fee. But, the SGA seems to think that task is better suited to the administrators they took it from.
The SGA is now far from the all-powerful deciding force behind student funds it was created to be. The system has changed, with or without the approval of the students, and we have to ask: what will change next?
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Cauldron editorial staff. All other columns and opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the author.