Club demands University budget transparency

As evidenced through our numerous interactions with the University student body, there exists a serious level of mistrust between students and administration. The Progressive Student Union is deeply concerned with this mistrust, and in an effort to improve relations between students and administration, is proposing that the University make the budget public information that is readily viewable.

Our story begins when we identified, through past campaigns and petitions, a feeling shared by a majority of students that there is an inadequate amount of information available regarding the current spending of the University tuition and fees. Our original intent was to demand that the University produce an itemized budget for all investors (i.e. tuition payers) to view. But in researching the issue, we learned that according to the administration, such a budget is already available. We were then instructed to contact Katherine Hennessy, Acting Vice President for Financial Affairs and Treasurer for the University, in order to obtain a copy of this public budget. Upon contacting her office, we learned she would not be available to meet and supply us with the budget information for six weeks. We see half of a semester as an unacceptable amount of time to wait for a budget labeled public.

As student investors, it is our undeniable right to have immediate access to the University’s budget. We are not customers but stakeholders, and as such, are wholly within our rights to demand a full understanding of how funds are allocated. The University’s mission statement wisely includes the call for students to be “critical, analytical and curious” and compels us to have a strong commitment to “personal and social responsibility.” Therefore, it is essential that the University cultivate an environment of shared governance.

We demand that the University make the budget readily available to all students, professors and other investors alike via a mass publication or through the University’s website. The current level of budget transparency is insufficient and unacceptable.

The Progressive Student Union would like to extend an invitation to any member of the administration to meet and discuss the aforementioned issues. We are available for contact at hofstrapsu@gmail.com. Furthermore, any student wishing to participate in this effort should sign our student petition and feel free to contact us for more information. All are welcome to attend PSU meetings held on Mondays at 8:30pm in Room 104 Davison Hall.