Having their cake and eating it, too
By Sam Shinde
3rd Year Political Science student
September 17, 2008
It’s ironic how the UWSA offers a food bank to assist students who are in need of basic nourishment – while the executives of our student government feast at the pub at the expense of those same students. The four executives of the UWSA had already been receiving a $1500 tab to be used at the pub. Once the pub closed, the board of directors deemed it appropriate for that pub tab to be converted into wages. But once the pub re-opened this September, the executives were granted an additional $1500 tab for the pub, on top of the $1500 raise they had just received as a result of the perceived closing of the pub a few months prior.
UWSA President Tiffany Gooch has publicly admitted that had the pub not initially closed at the end of May, the additional $1500 raise would never have been implemented, so the fact that the board of directors approved this additional $6000 ($1500 x 4 executives) in student money to be spent towards burgers and pizza is heinous. Just because the executives have been getting paid at the increased wage rate since April, doesn’t mean that their wages can’t be cut back to the original salary rate. In reality, our executives are essentially profiting from the failure of the pub which may lead some students to believe that the UWSA administration only closed the pub to personally gain from the re-opening a few short months later.
Gooch’s argument for the necessity of the pub tab is a mockery of each student’s hard earned tuition money. The majority of class schedules obligate students to remain on campus during mealtimes, but we either bring our own food, or use our own money to purchase food on campus. The UWSA executives should lead by example and begin to do the same. Gooch claims that the tab allows for the administration to “engage in conversation with students,” which can be done in all parts of campus. Being a pub regular myself, anytime the executives and other UWSA members have been eating at the pub – which is quite frequently – I have never seen any executive stray away from their own booth to take the time and commune with other students.
Additionally, the fact that the relationship between Shae Kavanaugh (VP of Administration) and Aaron Campbell (Board of Directors member) was not disclosed is another travesty of democracy in itself. The idea for the executives to receive a raise originated from Campbell himself, and I’m sure he’s benefiting from the new pub tab now that it has been reinstated. Regardless of what training the members of the UWSA had or had not received, the president has an obligation to oversee the proper administration of decision-making, and Tiffany Gooch failed to do this. If Gooch and the rest of the UWSA executives are relaxing the rules of democratic order this early in the school year, I can’t imagine the decision making process of the UWSA will have any organization or even an essence of fairness by January.
For once, I had faith that this year’s UWSA government would bring about a refreshing change from the plague of lackluster administrations which have haunted U of W students for years. Unfortunately it seems not much has changed.
|
