SUUSA student government members proposed a restructure of student government for the 2010-2011 school year over the holiday break to eliminate perceived inefficiencies and redefine the government’s main focuses.
Out of the current 49 student government positions, 25 would be eliminated if the restructure takes effect.
The money used to pay SUUSA officers, an estimated $15,000 a fiscal year for the 25 positions, would be funneled back to the student body to fund student activities and interests, said Student Body President Cody Alderson.
Because many positions in student government overlap each other and student government leaders would like to see money spent more wisely, a restructure was proposed, Alderson said.
“We want to use our money to affect a larger amount of students and capture more good for the greater whole,” he said. “I think at times, we can be inconsistent with how we do things. We want to be more efficient as a governing body so we can benefit the university as much as we can.”
Job responsibilities among student government members will remain similar, though more emphasis will be placed on the non-funding related responsibilities.
SUUSA student government must determine the correct number of positions to establish in the SUUSA Constitution before SUUSA elections take place in early March, Alderson said.
SUUSA Involvement Vice President Alayna Ferrin said senate and assembly would not be allocating funds as in the past, except for merit money.
Ferrin said it is going to be a bigger process for clubs and organizationsto receive money, but “will make it more worth it.”
Ferrin said having student government the way it is now is inefficient moneywise.
“We are cutting back positions so that there will be less stipends (for student government members), but a lot more opportunity for people to get involved at the lower levels,” she said.
“The way we fund right now kind of seems like we fund vacations sometimes and we don’t fund the most wise things.”
Instead, it is proposed that there will be a funding committee comprised of the Academic Vice President, Involvement Vice President, a senate representative, an assembly representative, a Student Activities Board member, and an SUUSA controller from the Cabinet who will formally review club and organization requests.
Alderson said to maintain efficiency in student government and to eliminate clubs and organizations from double-dipping funds from both senate and assembly, one governing body, the funding committee, will handle requests.
“It was a concern because we began to realize more and more clubs and organizations could qualify to receive funds from both bodies in this setup, the current proposal helps to fix the (double-dipping problem),” Alderson said.
There are currently 13 senators, 12 assembly members, eight Student Activities Board members, six cabinet members and four Judicial Council members.
The proposal suggests having seven senators, four assembly members, four STAB members, five cabinet members and Judicial Council would no longer exist.
Alderson said because grievances are not common, an on-call four-member ad hoc committee would form to solve grievances instead of having a full staff on the Judicial Council.
The ad hoc committee would be comprised of an assembly member, cabinet member, a senate member, a STAB member and possibly an adviser, Alderson said.
Judicial Council Chief Justice Nikolas Vaselopulos said eliminating the Judicial Council is a good idea because the leftover funds could give more back to the students.
Eliminating the Judicial Council would cut five student positions and save $3,000 in student fees, Vaselopulos said.
“This will give (student government) more options and can compensate the leftover (funds) to help students in more leadership training and have educational speakers come to campus,” he said. “This way it will benefit students as a whole.”
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