I thought this comment on the Daily Emerald Web site from ASUO Sen. Mikey Broetzmann to DFC member and Students for a Lower Incidental Fee co-chair Brendan Good was well worth re-posting:
My rant is not targeting the fiscally conservatives, rather it is directed at the writer who comes off as being a leading “fiscal conservative” on campus and the Co-Chair of “Students for a Lower Incidental Fee”
To begin with, the last time I checked (which was about 18hrs/week for the first 6 weeks of Winter Term), student programs were grilled pretty heavily over there programming and fiscal responsibility, and only given increases after they provided the information for both. It isn’t just a grab bag of cash that people make it out to be.
Actually, I take that back, for some groups it might just actually be a grab bag of money…For example, didn’t the student organization you are the former director of (Jewish Student Union) come into Senate with a special request just a few weeks ago asking for $1,991…Where is the fiscal responsibility in the organization that is coming in to depend on the I-Fee to sustain its own programming? Is that promoting this lower I-fee that you want o’ so passionately?
Second, I would like to touch on the “over-funded and under-used” campus services. I am not going to deny that there is definitely some fatty tissue within the realm of the ASUO. I guess it is just disheartening to read these rants and raves when he who is complaining about the growth of the I-Fee sat on a committee that maxed out there 7% growth limit (DFC), and not only were you on the committee, but you voted to do so. It blows my mind that you are going to preach about being a fiscal conservative when you are not doing it yourself. How can you make claims like “We have an opportunity to say that enough is enough! Why should we add tasteless, boring and bland entrees to an already unsustainable budget?” You had the opportunity to do it…AND YOU DIDN’T DO IT! Really??? Put your ideas into practice before you go and write about it in the paper.
I kept the ASUO Elections out of this because the fact of the matter is I read this article and my mind was just blown. Before you harp on others to be conservatives you should try and do it yourself.
Anxiously awaiting your response,
Mikey Broetzmann
ASUO Senate Seat 3: PFC