To the Editor,
“For the last three years,” the recent ASWC press release on international travel reads, “there has been a ban on college funding going to any international travel.” That statement is remarkably incorrect. That statement overlooks $20,725 that ASWC has spent to fund the uniquely positioned Whitman Direct Action projects to Guatemala over the last three years. Almost $7,000 is a lot to drop on one club every year, but Whitman Direct Action has been one of the strongest enablers of the lifting of this ban than any other student effort through assiduous work with the college and serving as a guinea pig of sorts for international travel since 2005. I am appalled that there has been no recognition of WDA’s efforts in this process and only a severe, debilitating withdrawal of ASWC financial support from WDA. A budget cut by over 75 percent will
cause unethical compromises to not only WDA’s functionality but to our established Guatemalan partner community that is expectant of continued relations with the college.
We globally extend Whitman’s mission and values through cultivating a partnership of trust and reciprocation, and these cuts may result in tangible loss such as the inability to provide our planned water purification curriculum to help the community prevent, and recover from, water contamination. Rapid fund slashing and contradictory guidance on funding throughout the years do not promote the holistic learning and leading opportunities I believed our student government supported. I can only hope to see greater long-term consistency in ASWC’s priorities for its clubs as well as increased diplomacy when faced with the need to encourage decreased dependence on ASWC funding.
Natalie Jamerson ’13
name • Apr 7, 2013 at 11:32 pm
While I understand capitalizing time and resources for designing projects and training members, ASWC money should be used to fund things that will have an impact on the campus. Though there have been a few articles about WDA’s work, I would not say the campus has overall been greatly impacted by WDA’s efforts. That’s great that there will be a U.C. presentation though!
More publicity always good? • Apr 4, 2013 at 7:46 pm
If you’re curious about what WDA is doing, there was a big spread in the Circuit this year talking about just that:
http://whitmanpioneer.com/opinion/2012/08/23/whitman-direct-action-development-in-the-real-world/
The Pio has plenty of articles and op-eds as well:
http://whitmanpioneer.com/opinion/2012/04/05/wdas-funding-reminds-whitman-students-of-available-resources-ready-for-copy/
http://whitmanpioneer.com/news/2011/09/15/wda-summer-trip-to-guatemala-builds-trust-gathers-info/
WDA’s blog has a ton of good info on the 2011/2012 projects:
http://wdainguatemala.wordpress.com/
WDA also holds info sessions and talks (Curt Bowen, the exec director of Semilla Nueva, came and spoke about his work with WDA as a Whitman student in the fall of 2010 and 2011). They co-sponsor speakers (Luz Riviera). There are presentations by the project team at the Undergraduate Conference each — attend the hour-long panel on Tuesday if you’re interested.
Most of WDA’s time and resources, however, go into designing their projects and training their team members — not publicity. The assumption that they should spend more time tooting their own horns is specious at best.
My two cents • Apr 4, 2013 at 10:48 am
While I agree that WDA has done a fantastic job serving as a test subject for ASWC’s international travel policy, I believe that ASWC was right to cut WDA’s funding (though perhaps not to severity that they did).
Though WDA does great work in Guatemala, I think it is wrong for students’ money to go towards funding a few Whitties to fly to Guatemala for the summer. Instead, I believe they should apply for travel grants, fundraise themselves, pay their own way, etc. At the end of the day, I understand ASWC paying for club expenses and perhaps even some of the trip expenses, but certainly not as much as they were previously.
As shown by the excessive cuts in funding for clubs next year, ASWC isn’t overflowing with money and as you said, $7000 a year is a lot. WDA has done good work, but they don’t deserve such a massive portion of the ASWC budget over other clubs.
While yes, it is a tragedy if these cuts do indeed hurt WDA’s summer trips and in turn Semilla Nueva, it is also not fair for ASWC to essentially donate money toward Semilla Nueva by way of funding the interns trips and then screwing over other worthy clubs on campus (that perhaps draw in more students).
It would, additionally, be great to see WDA have a more active presence on campus since they have been receiving such a large portion of ASWC funds. Though I know one of the students who traveled to Guatemala last summer, I know virtually nothing about what WDA is doing. I could be wrong, but I feel as though WDA is not working very hard to educate the campus about their efforts and the mission of Semilla Nueva. If they began to do so more though, I would in turn be much more accepting of ASWC giving WDA a higher budget, since the club would be in turn giving more back to the campus community.