ASWC is loaded and eager to give students money. This year ASWC had 462,400 dollars to spend on WEB events, clubs, individual student projects and more. It funded student trips to D.C., a yearbook, a green fund for environmental projects on campus and many other student initiatives. ASWC loves to make it rain on the student body, so long as you come and ask nicely.
That being said, it is important to make sure money is spent wisely. Practically, ASWC’s budget is finite and can only fund so much. Philosophically, ASWC has an obligation to the student body to use our money responsibly. A student fee (320 dollars this year) may seem minimal compared to the enormity of tuition, but managing nearly half a million dollars is another matter. To that end, it is crucial that ASWC remains accountable for the money it spends by requiring a basic oversight of spending by all ASWC-funded campus groups.
All campus groups that receive ASWC funding have their budgets approved by ASWC’s Finance Committee to ensure that money allocated to different groups is spent in accordance with ASWC rules and student body wishes. Furthermore, all clubs are required to have constitutions detailing how they do such things as elect their officers and organize club functions. These constitutions include the internal structures which decide how money is spent, which is of proximal concern to ASWC.
Until recently, there was no such requirement for campus media organizations such as KWCW, The Pioneer, blue moon and quarterlife. At the last Senate meeting, ASWC approved rules requiring that these groups have ‘governing documents’ outlining each organization’s structure. These documents require a statement of institutional purpose, leadership selection process, internal process of the organization and a means to measure the effectiveness of the organization in meeting its goals.
The proposed change, however, was not well-received by seniors Molly Smith and Derek Thurber, the editors-in-chief of The Pioneer. They saw an initial proposal requiring a ‘constitution’ as ill-suited to their organizational structure, which was jointly addressed by instead requiring more flexible ‘governing documents’. More symbolically, they felt that requiring these documents be submitted to ASWC directly “compromised [their] position as an independent student newspaper”.
Rather than compromise independence, however, rules like this ensure that an organization as large as The Pioneer be subject to the same basic accountability as any other campus groups. This year, The Pioneer received 41,616 dollars, the second highest allocation to any student group after WEB (KWCW got 28,420 dollars, blue moon got 19,000 dollars and Quarterlife got 4,000 dollars). Because it receives nine percent of the ASWC budget every year, The Pioneer‘s consistent and responsible management is of utmost concern to students.
The new rule gives these organizations the flexibility to organize themselves as they see fit. ASWC does not really care how this is done, so long as the document follows these five criteria. ASWC has no desire to influence the operations of these groups in any way: it just wants to uphold its responsibility to the student body that money be responsibly spent.
Internal structure and function is intrinsically important to the financial accountability of campus media organizations like The Pio. These documents would determine staff members’ salaries and imply the general areas of spending. While ASWC already approves campus media organizations’ budgets, leaving thousands of dollars to the discretion of one or two individuals is philosophically unsound.
Since clubs are held to similar standards while receiving much less money, it is only fair that organizations trusted with thousands of students’ dollars should have the same accountability. ASWC respects the importance of an independent paper, but wants measures to ensure that money is accounted for in the future. To continue the financial irresponsibility of funding large institutions lacking coherent guiding documents which account for the future would be a disservice to the student body, whose interests ASWC representatives are elected to represent.
ASWC is not over-reaching by requiring campus media groups to provide it with governing documents. For organizations whose chief leadership changes every year, it’s crucial to know that money is being responsibly spent. ASWC must allow groups to serve the interests of their readers and listeners, and more importantly, serve the student body by making the best use of student dollars and spending money fairly and philosophically.