It’s hard enough to hold elected officials accountable for their decisions. But when members of government are appointed, rather than elected, accountability becomes all the more difficult.
That’s the exact problem that faces the Finance Committee of the Undergraduate Students Association Council: Not a single member is elected by the student body.
Any student involved in a campus organization that receives USAC funding should care about the decisions of the Finance Committee, which is in charge of managing USAC’s contingency fund and distributing that money to student groups.
A motion to add elected officials to the committee was first proposed in May, when Tamir Sholklapper, 2012-2013 co-chief of staff in the USAC Office of the President, wrote a bylaws amendment proposing that the three general representatives serve as voting members on the Finance Committee.
By committing to a year on the committee, general representatives would have the opportunity to develop a more complete understanding of finances, which would in turn make them more effective sitting members of council over the course of the year.
The issue was brought up again at last week’s council meeting, albeit in a different form. General Representative Sunny Singh said he plans to bring a bylaws amendment to council soon that would ensure council’s direct participation in the finance committee.
Singh was right to broach the issue again, and council should model their bylaws amendment after Sholklapper’s proposal from May. Under the proposal, the general representatives would sit in on weekly committee meetings and have an active involvement in contingency funding and allocations. This would go a long way to solve the often-leveled criticism that USAC is too detached from the funding allocations that can make up the majority of its interaction with many student groups.
The proposal would also be a boon for the position of general representative.
One of the most common judgments leveled against the general representative office is that it lacks clear responsibilities. Adding the general representatives to the Finance Committee would give them at least one defined role on council.
Of course the proposal for these added responsibilities doesn’t come without some incredulity from council.
When this year’s council first discussed the idea in the summer, General Representative Lizzy Naameh expressed concern that general representatives do not have the same training or expertise as the current members of the committee.
While this may be true, complete detachment is definitely worse than the limited understanding the current general representatives could bring to the committee.
This issue is not a new one; it has roots in last year’s council, led by former USAC President David Bocarsly. No reforms were approved by the previous council either.
But this year, USAC’s financial path has been pockmarked by hasty decisions and instances of budgetary shortfalls for student groups.
For example, council allocated almost $80,000 in surplus funds to projects sponsored by councilmembers earlier this quarter, only to relinquish those funds a week later when met with outcry by student groups who stood to see their funding slide as a result. Decisions like this demonstrate the need for this council to make a change soon, before another financial controversy occurs.
Certainly, one competing solution would be to put the members of the finance committee, or at least the chair, up for election. But as it stands, the financial goings-on of the committee are far too nebulous. Many students are unaware of what USAC does at all, so it’s unreasonable for students to understand something that even elected members of the student government keep at arm’s length.
However they do it, the councilmembers need to find a way to implement some form of accountability for the Finance Committee. Now that the issue has been raised, it won’t go away until the council solves it.
Putting the three general representatives on the Finance Committee as voting members isn’t a perfect solution, but as of now, it’s the council’s best option. USAC has a lot on its plate, but creating a more transparent and accountable funding process is one step councilmembers can take for current and future students alike.
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