The Fleecing of Our Student Organizations

On Wednesday night it was announced that the University Administration has looted $150,000 from the Student Activity and Club Sports Fee. As many of you know this is the fee that funds all student organizations on campus as well as CUA's club sports teams. This unprecedented move has $100,000 being given to Campus Ministry, $30,000 to the Office of Campus Activities, and $11,000 to staff the Student Organization Resource Center. I am incredibly perturbed that the university has taken this massive sum from the general fund without any student input or oversight, let alone notification (we were told after the fact).

I am outraged that the University took unilateral action to remove student funds without any oversight by SFAB. This variety of block allocation was a contributing factor to the demise of the former Student Government, USG and threatens to destroy the event-by-event system upon which the Student Association is based. This system works and must be continued and protected from the temptation to take lump sum payments.

Aside from the nearly 25% of the Student Activity Fee which we have been deprived of there is a much greater issue at play here. Constantly CUA talks about developing leaders and a true student voice. Consequential actions such as this that take no account of the student body make the student leaders on this campus wonder if the Administration is simply playing lip service to its stated goal. This move is an incredibly disheartening turn for all those in the student association who have spent countless hours ensuring fiscal discipline and attempting to better CUA. Although SFAB and SAGA are far from perfect institutions they are crucial outlets for students to voice their views. In order to help mold well rounded young adults, the stated goal of this University, the Administration must allow the student body to have ownership over the important decisions associated with the Student Activity Fee.

The great irony in this entire affair is that under the existing rules Campus Ministry, OCA, and the SORC could have applied for funding through SFAB and the students would have still maintained their input. The funds that were removed are now no longer available for use by the other 80 student groups on campus. This extreme lack of tact has created a class system among our student organizations. Those associated with Campus Ministry are suddenly somehow placed above those that are not. Every organization on this campus must have equal access to funding.

We stand now on a slippery slope. This year $150,000 were removed but there are no restrictions on ever larger amounts being removed. Moving forward we must strive to create a formalized methodology for "special removals" of funds from the Student Activity and Club Sports Fee that ensures oversight by the student body. Myself and many of the other Delegates of the General Assembly dedicate ourselves to ensuring that students have some say in how their Student Activity and Clubs Sport Fee is allocated.

This article was published in the September 23rd Edition of the CUA Tower http://bit.ly/cp8dMP

Summer Allocation Update

Over the course of the summer Student Organizations have the opportunity to request funding from SFAB for both Operating Budgets and Event Requests. As SFAB allocates YOUR Student Activity and Club Sports Fee I will update this page with totals so you have an idea of where the money is going.

The total amount allocated as of 6/28/10: $19,153 out of an estimated $750,000.

Thank You

Although its incredibly belated I just wanted to extend my sincerest thanks to all of those who came out and supported me in my bid to serve a third term on the Student Association General Assembly. I look forward to the opportunity to move this body forward and closer to fulfilling its ultimate goal of being a responsible, effective voice for students at The Catholic University of America. I commit myself fully to pursuing this goal as well as to returning the focus of this body to students always and not merely putting them first near elections. In the next year SAGA has a chance to demonstrate true leadership among all student organizations. However, this goal will never be realized unless the General Assembly creates a proper outlet for student orgs specifically to voice their views of the issues affecting them. Without question a major priority for SAGA is creating a system of open communication between the Student Association and Students Orgs and scrapping the failed experiment that is the Student Representation Council.

Once again thank you and I look forward to serving as your liaison to Student Conduct Ethical Development.

SAGA is Broken, but a Name Change is Not the Answer

Without a doubt the Student Association General Assembly needs to be improved, however the greatest pitfall awaiting the General Assembly is being overly concerned with the body itself. The motivations behind the founding of SAGA was to advocate for the student body not to make incessant changes to little known governing documents. The forthcoming elections will provide you not only an opportunity to choose who will represent you on the Student Association and Program Board, but also to voice your distaste with question of whether or not to change the name of the Speaker to President. This particular issue is indicative of a larger inwards looking tendency that threatens to undermine the entire basis upon which SAGA has been built. I encourage each of you to vote no on March 30th and to sign the online petition here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvg7lRsCVJ8.

Instead of changing language I will, if elected, put an end to the practice of filling any vacancies on the General Assembly by appointments by the class delegates in which the vacancy occurs. This practice is not representative of the variety of interests present in each class, and encourages current members to fill vacancies with those who agree with them, rather than those most qualified to hold the office. I therefore propose that vacancies be filled by special elections within 30 days of the vacancy in question. Although post appointees have served admirably the legitimacy of the General Assembly requires drastic change to this practice, which perpetuates the image of SAGA as an "insiders organization."

SAGA also needs to give student organizations a seat at the table when deciding policies that will affect them, specifically in regards to funding. The Student Representation Council proved oddly unrepresentative and did not acknowledge the simple fact that student organization leaders are busy people who do not need to be told to come to another meeting in order to have there say. These leaders are crucial and should feel comfortable both approaching their delegates, and if they feel under-represented by the body, running themselves. I truly believe as a member of several student orgs that the best student government is one that does not demand overbearing regulations but instead promotes pragmatic funding policies designed to protect the newly augmented Student Activity and Club Sports Fee from inappropriate use.

If we want to improve SAGA from within, lets improve the means by which SAGA reaches out to the student body as a whole by appointed a Communications Director (a post that is currently vacant) and setting a full agenda at the beginning of each year. The Speaker could then summarize the goals of the body this year in an address they is mandated to give to the public each year (has not been held to date).

In conclusion SAGA does need some internal improvements, but this is not the primary goal of the body. These changes should be undertaken as soon as the new body is sworn in and an agenda should be compiled for the upcoming year through the office of the Speaker. Changing the Speaker's title to President will not provide legitimacy to SAGA but rather represent the worst stereotypes currently held about SAGA. We can fix SAGA, but more importantly we can help fix the problems actually affecting students as well.

Improving Study Abroad, By Students for Students

Studying abroad is an incredibly opportunity offered to students at CUA. Although I still have a month left in London I can already tell that this will be one of the highlight of my time in college. This experience can literally take you anywhere from Hong Kong, to Greece, and even one of three European Parliaments. From my conversations with other students in both my own, and other CUA programs I have found that the big picture things are incredibly well organized, yet there are still issues in the details. The General Assembly for the last two years has had minimal involvement with the academic workings of the University. Simply put this dynamic needs to change if SAGA is to be a permanent force for the betterment of the student experience at CUA.

In order to achieve these two ends I propose the that at the first meeting of the next General Assembly, SAGA commissions reports on each program (organized by the liaison to the Center for Global Education) using information provided by those people who completed the program the previous Spring (right now). I firmly believe that having students provide an honest critique of the services provided by Catholic University while abroad is the most efficient means of improving study abroad. For example in London I had a terrible time getting a Student Tube Card (a process which could have been completed prior to my arrival) and has resulted in extra charges of nearly $75. Minor issues such as these could be exposed by an examination organized by SAGA, the results of which would be presented to the Center for Global Education. This process will not only improve studying abroad for the nearly 175 students who go each semester, but will also create a conversation about further SAGA involvement with study abroad programs.

The General Assembly has got to build upon the strides taken in opening the library 24 hours during finals and the Speaker's Task Force on Politics to engage with the academic programs offered here at CUA. Making study abroad more convenient and easier for students studying in other countries is a first step for the General Assembly to reaffirm its commitment to the improving the quality of all academic programs offered by The Catholic University of America.

Off-Campus Housing Assistance

If anyone is looking for help finding housing off-campus this year Housing Services has a few programs you should look into:
http://housing.cua.edu/offcampus/resourcecenter.cfm

Protecting the Rights of Students who Live Off-campus

With most of the class of 2011 having completed the housing selection process for the 2010-2011 school year, the question of where many of us will be living is still far from answered. Due to the recent (but very much necessary) decision to close Spellman and Conaty Halls The Catholic University of America has been thrown into a housing crunch. More students than at any period during out time at CUA will be forced to move off-campus to cope with the lack of available rooms on campus.

Living off-campus comes with its own unique challenges, paramount amongst them a Brookland neighborhood that is openly hostile to University students in their community. Despite a few justified concerns residents are often nitpicking small issues and singling out students for undue negative attention out of a desire to encourage draconian measures on the part of University administration towards those residents who cannot live on campus due to size constraints. Further compounding these issues is the grotesque lack of representation these individuals enjoy presently in the General Assembly and all of student advocacy.

SAGA must take a proactive stand to assert the rights of CUA students in the Brookland community as the legal residents that they are, in addition to being students at the nearby university. If elected I will create an independent "Off-Campus Housing Association" to provide the representation so desperately needed by off-campus students in confronting the challenges posed by unreasonable community leaders. Furthermore SAGA members should be in attendance at each and every community meeting in order to prevent our students from being turned into political bargaining pieces by the Brookland community when discussing CUA's plans to expand. Last summer while living in the Heights I had the chance to observe these meetings first hand and I truly believe that students must engage with the community at large to improve the perception of CUA students as well as to develop a dialogue capable of heading off small issues before they erupt into ones the University administration becomes involved in.

The problems faced by off-campus residents will continue grow as more of the campus population moves into the Brookland neighborhood and the General Assembly must be committed to improving the present state of relations, thereby improving the quality of life for every student who lives in the surrounding area.