Allocating Competency to GW's Student Association

Staff Editorial

By:

Posted: 3/4/09

Given our ideological proclivities, The GW Patriot's editorial board views any government with suspicion and fear. While most of our peers have focused their attention on this year's general elections and the national government that they will produce, we choose to keep our gaze planted on George Washington's Student Association-a government whose decisions, by virtue of their direct influence on our lives as students, can be just as effective at making our years in Foggy Bottom joyful or miserable.

So far this year, it's been a mixed bag. We noted with pleasure that Senator Logan Dobson's financial transparency bill was passed-better late than never, we say. The Patriot endorsed that bill, and we continue to believe that it was just the sort of gradual reform that will improve the Association's allocations process by allowing ordinary students to see where (and for what) their money is being spent.

The allocations themselves were notable if only for how little they changed from those of last year. The majority of the extra money gained from the fee increase-which we opposed-seems to have been set aside for co-sponsorships, which makes it impossible to pass final judgment on Student Association spending at this time. We call for the Student Association to be judicious in the distribution of those funds.

Judicious spending was certainly not a priority during planning for the S.A.-funded "Unity Ball," which cost $50,000 and amounted to a well-catered frat party with an expensive cash bar. Contra the intentions of President Aswani, the event did little to increase unity on our campus-a fact that disappoints us, but does not surprise us. George Washington's students cannot buy unity, and we ought not to try.

We saw a similar trend in the SA's inaugural programming, which included a float that cost upwards of $80,000. Sure, the financial allocations for both events seem wasteful, but that's hardly the main point here.

The SA need not focus on programming because truth be told, the student body really doesn't care about it. Competent student government starts with the acknolwedgement of this fact. Then, the real business of government begins.

We want student leaders who make advocating on behalf of student interests their top priority. They need to be able to put these interests above petty internal SA politics. After all, the most effective way for the SA have a direct - and positive - influence on students is to champion the broad array of causes they hold dear.

But competency takes work, and our University's student government is on a very steep, long road of improvement. Keep hiking, ladies and gentlemen of the Student Association. We're watching, and we'll certainly have more to say.