Committee collapse takes democracy with it

There are few words that can explain my disgust and contempt at how what was once a democracy has become a dictatorship.

To those students who are unaware of what is happening in their student government, this is the basic breakdown.

Student Senate Finance Committee, a perfectly capable group of students, have spent the past few weeks deliberating on club financing. This has caused a ruckus among Student Senate and several other clubs on campus. The most deliberated clubs have been RLA and CAB, as well as the Office of Student Activities (which is, in fact, not a club, but an office).

After the budget was rejected by Senate, SFC tried to come up with several compromises, which, apparently several members of Student Senate were unappreciative of.

Several senators have voiced their strong opinion against SFC’s decision. Jacob Rissler, Senator of Andrews Hall and speaking much for RLA, rejected SFC’s compromise at Student Senate’s meeting yet again on Monday. It seems that according to him, and several other senators, clubs should not be held responsible for upholding their own constitution, and clubs should not be held accountable for being fiscally irresponsible.

RLA was cut in the first place due to the fact that it is partially an administrative program. The SFC’s compromise was to allocate some money to let the student members of RLA put on programs rather than RDs, who are administrative members. Many of the members of SFC simply requested that RLA put power back in the student’s hands.

Lucky for us, the students no longer have to worry about having any sort of power.

Monday, Aaron Prestwich, interim executive director of student life, decided that the best way to move forward would be to dissolve SFC.

These eight students on Student Senate Finance Committee, who, keep in mind, were chosen by student representatives, were relieved of their position, according to Prestwich in a letter that he read Monday.

All hail Dictator Prestwich.

Because, if you students have not realized, Prestwich’s actions have ripped all democratic procedures from this school. We, as students, vote for student representatives for student senate, who then pick the members of SFC.

In the meeting Monday, T.J. Thomson, Student Senate Vice President, mentioned that some of the suggestions being made by Student Senate members went against our constitution. Prestwich replied coldly, “And who okays your constitution? The administration,” then went on to read his letter.  Although I’d like to avoid clichés, the man is pushing us down.

This college is supposed to care about students. Prestwich even said in his letter that SFC has “a general lack of concern regarding what is in the best interest of the student body.”

Let me ask Prestwich, and all those students who are giddy with his decision: what is in the best interest of the student body? That we continue to have a club, such as RLA, have as much money as they want without being held accountable for having a poor management system? That we let the money that WE pay go to the Office of Student Activities, which is not actually a club?

Or is it best for the student body that we lay down while a few members of the student body and one administration member snatch the little power that we have over the money we pay into activity fees right from the palm of our hands? Not to mention that Prestwich’s suggestion for how to fix the “student activity fee allocation committee” makes as little sense as trying to order a burger in a sushi restaurant. The new committee would be comprised of two co-chairs, one from Student Senate, one from CAB, two other members of Student Senate, three other members from Campus Activities Board, two members of RLA, and two unaffiliated student representatives.

Why two members of RLA? Is RLA not still a club, rather than a division of Student Government? If we’re going to allow two members of one club, why don’t we have two members of Choir, two members of Allies, two members of The Pit? How is it fair to put $155,000 into the hands of two members of one club but exclude other clubs?

Simply stated, it’s not. Student Senate Finance Committee was a way to use fair procedures. Students vote for representatives, and those student representatives have the power to accept or deny people who are accepted into SFC.

The students of SFC were not, as I have heard many people say, trying to run our campus with an iron fist. They were simply trying to decide how to correctly use funds designated for student activities. They were also trying to make a point that the money that we as students pay should be allocated according to the Student Government Constitution. The funds should be watched. Of course I want to know that the money I have paid is being used correctly. And I’d be surprised if someone said they didn’t.

Now, instead, the Student Senate is to allocate money to clubs. The two outspoken gentlemen on Student Senate, Rissler and President James Bahensky, have gotten their way. They can use their arbitrary numbers and throw money out to clubs, especially the clubs that they like.

Glad to see that fairness is alive in our puppet government.

So thank you, Aaron Prestwich. Thank you for turning our student government upside down three weeks before summer. Because if I’ve learned one thing from Chadron State College, it is that our administration does not, in fact, trust or care about the opinions of its students.