Ever wonder how that annoying $50 student activities fee is being spent? We do, too—and with good reason. Unfortunately, the Student Activities Commission, the group charged with distributing thousands of dollars worth of student activities fees, won’t tell you—their budget is a closed book. The Georgetown University Student Association has commendably been working to reform SAC by changing the method by which SAC’s chair is chosen. They should go further, by making SAC’s budget and the votes of their commissioners open to all students.
SAC’s constitution states that its chair must be appointed and approved by GUSA. Since Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson declared SAC independent from GUSA in 2003, SAC has ignored this part of their constitution, opting instead to have each outgoing chair appoint their successor. Not only did this give a self-selected group of students control of an immense amount of money, but it was in direct violation of SAC’s constitution. On Wednesday, however, responding to a GUSA resolution promoting more transparency, SAC chair Sophia Behnia (COL`09) consented to have new SAC chairs appointed by a commission instead of a single person.
The commission, which will be made up of GUSA leaders, SAC members, and club heads, seeks to avoid concentrating too much power in one small group. It’s a sad state of affairs, though, when GUSA gets credit simply for forcing a group to follow its own rules.
GUSA and SAC are also beginning to make SAC expenditures more transparent. Behnia has pledged to start posting meeting minutes online and to encourage more students to attend SAC meetings.
GUSA needs to hold Behnia to her promise. They’ve succeeded so far in making SAC follow its already-established rules, but further regulations need to be pursued. Currently, SAC’s budget is closed, and each commissioner’s votes are secret. This needs to change. There’s no reason why the student body shouldn’t be able to view the decisions of students entrusted with thousands of dollars of student funding.
George Washington University’s Student Association recently passed a bill that achieved this very goal, letting any student see how any club spends their student activity fee. GUSA should emulate this example and force SAC to open up its budget and its commissioners’ votes. Only when SAC’s budget and commissioners’ votes are open to everyone will students be sure that SAC is spending money responsibly.
