USG: Do not create an endowment with our tuition dollars

Letter to the Editor

We are the SEC Allocations Committee, the student body’s elected representatives that manage all things related to student finances. Specifically we oversee the Student Activity Fee (SAF), a fee every undergraduate pays to fund all the umbrella organizations on campus, and distribute it to all the major student organizations on campus. We also oversee all spending of the SAF, auditing these student organizations to ensure proper spending of your tuition dollars. Unfortunately we come to the student body with unfortunate news about how your tuition dollars are being spent by our student groups.

It is rare to ever receive funding for everything you need as an organization under the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). For instance, USG insists on funding items such as a pizza party at only $2/person, and small events at a mere $15/person. Many USG organizations have been forced to turn to alternative funding sources, such as the Allocations Committee (AC), to fund their basic expenses. Despite this, USG still has one of the larg- est estimated buildups of unused funds out of any student group on campus— over $250,000. This is already not ideal, but new USG proposals would sweep this issue under the table, preventing our tuition dollars from being used to support the current undergraduates—funds that belong to students— and instead would serve only their own interests.

USG’s plan, as outlined by proposed Bill 31-17, creates an endowment fund to cover their basic operational expenditures. At Case Western Reserve University, organizations can create an endowment—a type of fund where you deposit money and only receive interest in return. Endowments typically accrue 4.9% interest, with the returns going back into one’s main account. However, it is unclear why USG needs a fund that accrues over time. Summarized in the proposed bill are plans to spend the endowment on things that USG already funds—causes like the Student Activities Fair, S’party and discretionary spending. This is a flagrant misuse of the SAF, which should be going towards funding student life in the same semester that students pay for it. The SAF goes directly to student groups, making it one of the few aspects of tuition that students have direct control over. Because the SAF is paid for by a portion of undergraduate tuition each semester, ideally all the semesterly allocated funds would be spent by the end of it, benefiting the activities and overall student life of that semester. Thus it is disappointing to see when organizations fail to spend their funds efficiently and in a manner that benefits the student body.

That being said, all of the major organizations directly funded by the SAF did not spend their entire allocation this semester—it’s been especially hard in recent semesters due to programming limitations—but USG is estimated to be the worst offender. Unused funds, or rollover, build up in their accounts over time, and should ideally be cut down over time through proper budgeting and spending. Although the ways that USG could cut down on rollover may seem apparent—such as imposing significantly fewer limits for their clubs or for their own internal spending so

CWRU FILM SOCIETY PRESENTS: argue as much, it’s a justification and shouldn’t be accepted as a true apology. these funds would get used—their new plan does not accomplish this. Instead it violates the principles by which our tuition dollars should be spent, keeping funds away from student organizations for no real purpose. It seems hypocritical to criticize CWRU administration for not using all of our tuition dollars to benefit the current student body when our elected student representatives plan to do the same thing.

Now that we’ve gone through all of these distinctions, let’s talk about why it matters. Well, there are two parts to this. The first part is—don’t give out half-baked apologies. I understand that while trying to rebuild a burned bridge, apologies are a one-step path to reconciliation, but it won’t work if you aren’t willing to make the sacrifices that come with it. “I’m sorry,” isn’t a magical phrase that makes it all better. It’s only as powerful as the remorse you put behind it. Giving insincere apologies may work superficially, but you may reach a point where someone sees through the lack of effort, and it may put you in a worse position than you were before.

Now, this leads me to the other half of my point—don’t accept half-baked apologies. It’s extremely easy to want to alleviate tension and accept the semblance of an apology that’s thrown your way, but I’m asking you to hold yourself to higher standards. If someone does you wrong, you deserve a proper apology. Apologies rely on remorse that motivates someone not to make the same mistake again. Apologies should result in a difference in behavior. If someone is disingenuous, and their apology doesn’t result in that change, they’re just using the act of apologizing to get you to dismiss their wrongs. Apologies without change are just manipulation.

Good apologies are incredibly worth it. And the more we are willing to commit to better apologies, the better off we all will be.

By creating an endowment, USG is withholding $250,000 from the current student body. This is money paid by students currently attending CWRU and thus it should go to us. No one should be paying for the activity of future students—the spending of USG’s SAF allocation should reflect that principle. As custodians of the SAF, we at the AC strongly urge USG to reconsider their endowment plan and to instead find a way to bring value to us, the students at CWRU, especially when we haven’t had much of a student life over the past few years.

Signed, The SEC Allocations Committee

THE 47th ANNUAL SCIENCE FICTION MARATHON

Dune: Part One (2021, PG-13, DCP)

War of the Worlds (1953, G, 35mm)

SURPRISE 1 (???, NR, TBA)

The Lawnmower Man (1992, R, 35mm)

Lifeforce (1985, R, Digital)

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