USG should focus on student funding
Last week, the USG Senate unanimously approved a resolution calling for more funding for the USC recreational athletics programs.
Danny Razzano | Daily Trojan
USG, in passing this resolution and demanding more funding for recreational programs, has shown a profound lack of understanding about the amount of time USC students spend at the gym, compared to other daily activities.
Last Tuesday, USG Director of Wellness Wiley Strahan told the Daily Trojan that he “found that the areas in most disrepair are the places students spend most of their time, such as the Lyon Center, which is why [he has] been determined to get a resolution regarding student needs through the Senate.”
Frankly, it is hard to believe that students are spending most of their time, which would be more than 12 hours day, at the gym or playing recreational sports.
However, if USG does believe the recreational sports program needs extensive reform, then USG should recognize that the problem is too big for USG to handle and instead should be handled by the USC administration.
To begin, USG allocates only $314,000 for the programming boards that provide funding to student clubs and organizations, according to the 2013-14 budget, which will be voted on by the Senate later this week. Though USC boasts extensive extracurricular opportunities for students, the ability for student groups to receive funding is incredibly limited.
Besides a massive chunk of time lost after applying for funding, each of the more than 750 student organizations on campus can only receive funding from one of the few funding boards. Each board is limited to a low amount of funding, and student organizations can only receive funding from one of those boards. Other requirements might include that the funding be used solely for events and only after an in-depth budget report is created on behalf of the group.
One group on campus, however, has no need to search for funding. The USG budgeted more than $238,000 for itself in student stipends, according to the budget report. The money goes toward the salaries of the student USG members, from the president and the vice president to each of the 12 student senators. USG had no comment on the official salary amounts of each of the positions.
Thankfully, the stipend rate has now decreased almost 11 percent from the previous administration, according to current treasurer Kameron VanWoerkom. However, this decrease does not justify the secrecy surrounding the huge salaries USG sees fit to award its members.
Senators, who are paid about $2,500 each year, work eight hours a week, half of which are spent in the office, according to two former senators from USG. However, senators do not necessarily have to do anything during office hours. While some senators do lobby administrators, meet with their constituents and write relevant resolutions, some just show up. Part of the fault lies with students who do not put pressure on USG to be more active, but USG must push itself anyway.
On top of that, every year USG allocates a significant part of its budget to send the entire USG student group on an expensive weekend retreat where, according to the treasurer, it receives significant discounts. Although the new Kurth-Park administration has said they are looking for a less expensive venue for retreat, it certainly doesn’t make sense that USC students have to foot the bill.
It’s unfortunate that USG unanimously demanded that USC allocate more money to recreational sports programs instead of reducing its own salaries for the sake of other student extracurricular activities. The majority of students are part of smaller organizations on campus, and these students deserve just as much attention.
Last week, USG Assistant Director of Wellness Affairs A.J. Pinto spoke for USG when he said, “We’re really hoping that administrators will recognize the needs of our campus and will try harder to adequately accommodate those needs.”
Well, it’s time for the new administration to step up.
Dan Morgan-Russell is a freshman majoring in international relations global business.
CORRECTION: The original article incorrectly stated that USG’s retreat was a week long. The retreat only lasts for two days. The Daily Trojan regrets the error.
At Mt. San Antonio College, I served as an officer in the Associated Students as a Senator during the 2007-08 academic year and the Chief Justice during the 2009-10 academic year. During those years, I was not paid for my work. While I was able to make my work schedule accommodate my meeting schedule for these two roles, many officers in the Associated Students were unable to serve in their elected roles because they could not find the time to fulfill their financial obligations. As a result, there was a lot of intra-year turnover, and this caused turmoil in executing planned events and creating stability within Mt. SAC’s student government.
If USC moved to a similar system–as has been suggested by many Daily Trojan staff writers over the past two years–it would prevent USG from maintaining the professionalism and transitional stability it has had over past years that enable it to execute its duties effectively. While I know everyone hates money that seems to be spent on events like retreats for their representatives, the USG retreat is done on a budget compared to the retreats I have seen other student governments take from other universities at the Region VIII Treasurer for the SSCCC during the 2010-11 academic year.
In fact, most other student government organizations take multiple retreats, while USC’s USG only attends one brief retreat to inform members about their responsibilities and how to work with other USG officers and USC administrators. Moreover, the retreat is held locally, USG representatives share beds, and transportation is not provided for students with USG funds. Again, this is significantly more cost efficient than retreats held by other student governments at other colleges and universities. If no retreat was held, as I have seen happen at some Community Colleges in the local area, then I would predict that USG would be much less effective in executing its responsibilities on behalf of the students at USC. Regardless, it is important to point out that this was one of the issues that differentiated the two tickets that ran for President/VP this year, and the student body voted for the ticket that supported the retreat, so the opinion of the student body has likely been heard to an extent on this issue.
Most importantly, for USG officers who work with administrators to voice the concerns of students and Program Board officers who try to get outstanding speakers and performers to come to campus, it is critical that we maintain professionalism and stability from year to year to maintain the reputation of our organization. The fact that our organization is able to do this with a smaller budget than other colleges and universities I have attended is commendable. While there can always be improvement, I suggest the staff writer responsible for this article do more research because this article neglects any attempt to compare USG’s performance relative to work done by similar organizations at other universities.
Adam Prohoroff
Former Commuter Senator