On Monday, April 8, the Students’ Association (SA) Senate approved the $1,154,250 SA budget for the 2013-14 school year — less than an hour after first laying eyes on it.
Senators typically have a week to review the budget before voting, but this year they were given just a 10-minute summary by SA Treasurer and senior Michael Dymond, after which they deliberated for approximately 45 minutes, only discussing the budget of Meliora Capital, LLC. According to Senator and KEY Scholar Bradley Halpern, “It was evident that the majority of the Senate had too little information to vote responsibly.” We agree.
With only four out of 18 senators privy to the entire budget before voting — not including the SA Appropriations Committee, which crafted the budget — over three-quarters of the group was left in the dark. While it’s understandable they sought to reach a timely decision with what information was available, senators are expected to make informed decisions, especially when dealing with a multimillion-dollar budget financed by nearly 5,000 undergraduates.
The SA budget deserves due process and deliberation — certainly more than an hour — and senators should have tabled the vote until they were able to properly review the entire budget. We hope next year’s senators take their jobs more seriously.
