Editorials Where is all the money going?

Author: [no author name found]

Where does all the money go?

Last semester, the Student Government Association Finance Committee faced a daunting challenge. Late budget requests by student organizations and shortsighted funding decisions by last year's Finance Committee had created a major budget crisis. The Committee's solution was to slash student organizations' 2006-2007 budgets across the board and begin a serious reevaluation of the student organization budget request and finance system.

Now the Committee is looking to next year, and plans are being floated for sizable increases to the Student Activities Fee (SAF). While anyone with knowledge of the Finance Committee's budget could recognize the need for an increase to the SAF, the problem is that not very many students have any knowledge about how the money they give the Finance Committee is allocated. The Committee does not disclose how it allocates student money to campus organizations, nor does the Committee report the state of its own budget.

Students do not know how much of their money is spent by the Middlebury College Activities Board to book concerts or hold Pub Nights. Students do not know how much money special SGA initiatives drain from their pockets. And students do not know how much cash The Campus editors hand out to make newspapers each week.

We know the Finance Committee needs more money, but we also think it would be nice if Campus editorial positions came with company cars and personal assistants. Before students let the Finance Committee take more of their money, they should hold the Committee accountable to show them just how their money is spent.


The little college that could

Middlebury College is, admittedly, a small school, in a small town, in a small state. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts' visit last fall, and the commitment of former President Bill Clinton to visit this Spring, both prove that there is nothing small about the College's ever-growing international status.

And behind the scenes, these high-profile visits highlight something else: the many individuals beyond the bubble who work quietly but work hard on behalf of Middlebury. The Trustees and alumni directly involved in recruiting Clinton deserve a congratulations, and so do those Middlebury "ambassadors" around the world who build the good reputation of the College on the hill.