Assembly resolution to strengthen budget comm.
By Katy O'donnell, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Student Assembly passed a resolution last night which gives students a greater say in the budget agenda. The resolution also requires the SBAC to publish a report explaining the issues raised over the term and the decisions made.
After little debate, the Student Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday night to strengthen and publicize the accomplishments of the Student Budget Advisory Committee.
The SBAC, a college committee of 14 members who meet with Provost Barry Scherr, Executive Vice President for Finance Adam Keller and Dean of the College James Larimore several times each term, serves as a link between students and the administration. The 14 students on the committee are selected through an open application process by the Assembly's Membership and Internal Affairs Committee, but are otherwise not responsible to the Assembly.
The committee was formed in the winter of 2003 in the wake of the controversial termination and subsequent reinstallation of the College's swimming and diving teams. Since then, it has played a role in issues pertaining to student life, including the decision made during the spring of 2005 to extend library hours at Baker-Berry Library. The committee is currently concerned with expanding the number of GreenPrint stations on campus.
The Assembly proposed that the students on the committee be given more influence in setting the budget agenda as well as more access to information necessary to participate in the budgeting process. The resolution also requested that the committee, which currently does not formally explain its decisions or priorities, publish an open report each term outlining issues raised, priorities the committee has suggested and the action steps agreed upon.
"Right now there is no formal output from the committee," said Student Body President Noah Riner '06. "This is a way to show what's going on with this really important committee."
While most members did not question the resolution, Bo Li '09 was skeptical about how cooperative the provost would be in releasing potentially sensitive financial information in a public report.
"The fate of the legislation depends on the intention of the provost. If he's not going to work with us, we aren't going to do anything. I voted for it because it can't do harm, but I don't know if it can do good," Li said. "The College jurisdiction is outside the Assembly's authority. If we know about something and we are pissed off we can't really do anything about it."
The majority of members, though, did not foresee a problem with getting access to necessary information.
"Should the administration not be as forthcoming as we'd like, we can apply pressure by writing articles and getting the word out that the administration is not doing what we need," Christina Chick '07 said.
The resolution passed without opposition.