The Student Federation serves a fairly small, though not pointless, role on campus. We are allocated a portion of your student fees and given the responsibility to give them back effectively: We exist for this reason — I say this as Treasurer. Compared to other student government bodies, we do hardly anything at all. I have a friend in student government in Grove City. They host events nearly every other weekend, and they were given a say in the picking of the college’s new president. We are not that.
Student Fed is here primarily to serve one purpose: “[T]o allocate student fees for the purpose of improving campus life.” The narrowness of our mission in comparison to many college’s student governments allows us to focus our attention on dispensing fees as prudently and thoughtfully as possible. We fund the Collegian, the Winona, and the Tower Light. We support events as diverse as Centralhallapalooza, the Regency Ball, and the March for Life.
We’ve given money to support readings of Winnie the Pooh, to help host Battle of the Bands, and to buy ski equipment. In the year and change that I have served on Student Fed, we have turned down or only partially funded very few requests, and those generally for valid reasons. We don’t spend your money flippantly, but generally the requests you give us are worthy requests. We have one job, and we try to do that well.
And yet on the rare occasions that I hear about Student Fed beyond the meetings themselves, there seems to be this conception of Student Fed as being hesitant, at best, to spend student fees. Part of this conception comes from the fact that we have upwards of $60,000 in our discretionary account right now, and I get that. But let me put that in perspective: Each semester we are given about $50,000 in student fees. Of that $50,000 roughly $35,000 is set apart for the Collegian, Winona, Tower Light, the senior class, and a few other expenses like the school planners given out at the beginning of the year.
That leaves us with roughly $15,000 in discretionary funds per semester. Last semester we spent about $18,000. Of that $18,000, a little over $6,000 went towards clubs, and the rest was spent on campus improvement projects like lighting for the sand volleyball courts and outdoor furniture for the dining hall. We might not be able to enjoy these two right now, but they’re valuable things for when the weather allows.
Likely at this point you, like me, are wondering why it seems that so little was spent on student organizations. The simple answer is that, as a student federation, we are limited by the fact that students have to come to us before we can give money to them. We can only fund the proposals which come before us.
We have the power to initiate spending only on improvements to our campus, and we continue to seek out ways to do that effectively. In other words: Please, ask us for money — we want to give your money back to you for worthy causes, but we can only spend money on requests given to us. If a club or honorary you are involved in could use some money for something worthwhile, come ask us for it. If you have an idea that could make our campus better, come talk to us about it. We want to hear it.
That leads me to one final point: We are students, just like you. We’re your peers. We’re your friends. If you have questions or concerns about the way that we’re spending your money, come to us and talk about it. We, just like you, care deeply about this campus and want to see it flourish. We have money to spend, so help us spend it. We have taken an oath to represent the student body at large, and we are part of that student body: Help us to serve you better.
