By Steve Babcock
Student Government Association President Richard Scwabacher requested that two Senate subcommittees turn over to him all documents pertaining to student group funding on campus Thursday.
Schwabacher requested these documents from the Budget Review Committee and the Student Affairs Board so that he may approve them and formally pass them on to the appropriate student organizations.
While the request is well within Schwabacher’s presidential authority, the action does point out several systematic issues that SGA hopes to mend when it brings its restructuring plan to the full Senate in early May.
“Subcommittees [SAB and BRC] are not being run as effectively as possible,” Schwabacher said to the Senate. “The kind of interaction that SGA hopes to reach students with happens in two ways. One is through you [all senators]. The other is through the student groups with the boards. When the boards aren’t operating efficiently, that is obviously a problem.”
Under SGA regulations, when a student group wants regular or special funding, a written request must be submitted to the BRC.
The BRC can either approve the full amount requested, a partial amount or completely deny the groups funding request. If the student group is unsatisfied with the amount of funding it receives, it can then appeal to the SAB.
According to Schwabacher, problems currently lie in “disparities and discrepancies in several steps in the process of appeal.” He cited a lack of communication between the student groups and subcommittees as a major issue.
“If you came forward with a request and it was denied, one would think you would want something in writing telling you that your request was denied,” Schwabacher said. “That is not happening.”
Schwabacher also expressed dissapointment toward the partial funding of sorority Delta Phi Epsilon’s Take Back The Night event, at which Executive Vice President Michael Romano spoke to spread awareness about the issue of hiring a sexual assault counselor on campus.
Executive Vice Presidents Romano and Michael Benson, who chair the SAB and BRC respectively, both agreed that the move was not meant as criticism.
Vice President for Financial Affairs Benson, whose own Committee to Examine Northeastern University Student Fees was dissolved by Schwabacher’s first presidential veto last month, said that the BRC was left with unspecified powers by the SGA Constitution that give him discretion.
“Being the independent group that [BRC] are, the constitution gives us a certain amount of areas for opportunity and improvement,” Benson said. “I don’t think the issue [communication between the BRC and student groups] has been a problem.”
Vice President Romano expressed an equally positive message toward Schwabacher’s move.
“[Schwabacher] is fulfilling his executive duty,” Romano said, “Increased oversight over these boards is a testament to our ensuring that student life and student activities improve. The problems have been present in the Constitution for years.”
Schwabacher, Benson and Romano are all in agreement that the Constitution is in need of mending. With restructuring coming to the forefront at a Joint Senate meeting scheduled for May 5, the three acknowledged that issues such as this, which are mainly internal SGA issues, will be visited again at that time.
“The Constitution currently provides a lot of flexibility, and even some loopholes to the vice presidents,” said Schwabacher, who shared in Benson’s characterization of the BRC as independent. “These issues will come out again in restructuring, and again in elections.”
