Category | Op Ed

SGA endowment: More dollars than sense

Published on February 2, 2010 by Brittany Link

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending my first Student Government Association meeting. It was an eye-opener! The meeting was covered three controversial issues, two of which dealt with SGA’s internal organization. Though the interworking of SGA is important, my main concern was with the third issue.

A few SGA representatives introduced a proposal calling for about $3,000 to be spent on four massage chairs for the student center. One of the representatives explained that they would purchase three “average-sized” chairs that would cost rouhgly $400 each and one “over-sized” chair that would cost approximately $900.  On top of this, each chair would need a $99 two-year warranty.

The presentation addressing the massage chairs consisted of two PowerPoint slides. One slide explained the different prices for each chair and that SGA will have the choice of where the chairs will be placed. The other slide consisted of two pictures showing the different-sized chairs they were planning to buy. The proposal provided no justification of the need for the chairs.

Ideally, after a representative presents their proposal, the next step is for the representative to make a motion that puts the proposal to a vote. The representatives must then vote to decide the outcome of the proposal. As of right now, a simple majority vote is required to throw away our student fees on frivolous spending.

Luckily during Thursday’s meeting, there were not only representatives, but also students - non-voting members of SGA - who spoke out against the massage chair proposal. These students brought up the following points: What about spending that money on better Internet connection in the dorms? Who will be liable every time the chairs are damaged? What about the extensive traffic in the student center? There are only four chairs and more than 20,000 students at KSU.

My concern is not about the massage chairs as much as is that no guidelines exist for how our SGA representatives spend student fees. All it takes is one idea, a few colorful words, and these representatives can spend tens of thousands of dollars on anything their hearts desire. The only justification seems to be that it’s a “nice thing to do.”

I found the meeting rather ironic. Before the discussion of the massage chair proposal, two SGA representatives proposed a resolution to limit SGA spending. Specifically, this resolution would limit the representatives from using our student fees on anything that does not, “(1) promote student advocacy or campus participation, (2) address the issues facing students, or (3) does not improve the academic needs of the student body as a whole.”

Unfortunately, after a brief discussion about the spending resolution, a motion was passed to end all discussion on the matter until next week’s meeting. Why discuss a spending resolution when we could discuss how we want to waste $3,000 on four massage chairs?

This is not an attack on SGA as an organization, because there should be a vehicle for students to have a voice. Also, it is important for students to stay actively involved with campus legislation. The conflict lies within SGA’s bylaws, which frees the representatives from any sort of accountability when deciding how they wish to spend our fees.

Not all representatives of SGA support this spending proposal and have spoken out against it, but can only argue on grounds of principle. They have nothing in their bylaws that give them guidance to prevent this waste and abuse. As of right now, the only real check on spending comes from the few non-voting members who attend the SGA meetings to voice their concerns about the different proposals.

Spending $3,000 on four massage chairs tells me one of two things: 1) SGA’s budget is too large and their endowment should be cut next semester, or 2) the student body has no other campus concerns, which I find very hard to believe.  It is time that all students find out who represents them in their college or department and let them know about the real issues. Students also need to hold their representatives responsible and let them know that frivolous spending of student activity fees will not be tolerated.

Brittany Link is a Junior working to attain a major in Political Science with a concentration in Professional Politics. She is also an active member of the service sorority Omega Phi Alpha.