Private SBG meeting ends USSA budget

Students bombarded Student Government Board members with questions and condemnations at the… Students bombarded Student Government Board members with questions and condemnations at the board’s Thursday night meeting, only a day after SGB removed the United States Student Association from its budget in a private morning planning session.

“You secretively met and made a decision to eliminate an organization that so many of us depend on and don’t even know we depend on,” said Chase Patterson, the Black Action Society’s community outreach chair.

The decision to remove USSA from the budget, which was due on Friday, developed under intense scrutiny because of recent attacks on the organization.

Some students have complained that USSA, a student-lobbying group, holds political views and agendas not in line with the entire student body and, therefore, should not be forced upon unwilling students.

Proponents of USSA, however, affirm that the group is a nonpartisan organization designed to fight for students’ rights and welfare.

Funding for the organization can still be generated through the submission of a supplemental request at any time, even though it was not attached to the original budget.

“If you do not reconsider your decision, you will have dismantled the very foundation that allows every single student in this room to be a member of this university,” said La’Tasha Mayes, a former SGB member, before calculating the cost of membership to USSA per student to be roughly 6 cents.

Not everyone agreed.

“Six cents is still 6 cents,” senior Audrey Woosnam said. “It’s becoming an issue that is so polarized that it’s not really being discussed fairly.”

The criticism, which was initially aimed at the actual omission of USSA, quickly turned toward the Board’s method of removing it from the budget.

“We felt blindsided by this,” said Jen Stephan, a USSA regional chair. “It looks to us and everyone else [to be] very shady.”

Josh Taylor, the Allocations Committee chair, rose in support of the Board.

“In past history, the items that have been placed in the budget have not been voted on in public meetings,” he said. “This clearly is a very controversial request. As a result, I think that what was done was in fact the right method.”

The Board splintered against a tidal wave of accusations, allegations and demands.

“I want a written statement as to why the United States Student Organization is being dropped,” former Board member Michelle Agostini said. “I also want a written plan about what you are going to do about that loss of 500,000 voices on Capital Hill.”

Agostini went on to question the integrity and merit of SGB.

“What is worrying me about this Board extremely, and what has also worried me about Boards in the past, is that there seems to be an inability to discuss and truly act on the issues that are impacting us every single day,” she said.

After a collective attack from the vocal majority of the audience during the open floor portion of the meeting, broken up by four voices of support, the Board split into factions in its closing remarks.

Board member Lauren Evette Williams targeted the other end of the table.

“I can’t trust you to make decisions,” she said to her fellow Board members. “We were pressed to make a decision in 15 minutes. Where was the compromise? What happened to teamwork? All of you guys know that certain things were not discussed.”

Pushed to the defensive, Business Manager Liz Blasi struck back.

“[I’m] being stabbed with these allegations that are not true,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I am not the kind of person who would go behind 15,000 students’ backs.”

Blasi added that she could have submitted the budget without consulting the board at all.

Board members Joe Pasqualichio, Matt Hutchinson and Joe Salvatore rallied in defense of the board’s resolution.

“[It’s] not an issue of teamwork,” Pasqualichio said. “[It’s] an issue of representing the students. Some people on this board have their own agendas. I want to represent all the students, not my personal agendas.”

While the Board refrained from attaching names to their attacks, the intent was clear.

“I’m sorry if you can’t trust me, but those that voted for me do,” Hutchinson said. “It was obvious that this was going to be an issue.”

After the meeting, President Brian Kelly worked to sort out the situation in his head.

“Every Board member knows USSA,” he said. “I think Lauren Evette Williams was upset that she didn’t get her way.”

Kelly and members of the Board will be meeting with a national representative of USSA this week.

“There was no decision. We just postponed it,” Pasqualichio said. “We simply decided to wait and make it a supplemental request.”

Kelly remained confident the Board would continue to discuss USSA, but added that should they arrive at a split decision, he would vote in opposition to funding the organization.

“If you firmly believe in something, I don’t think you should have to compromise,” Kelly said.