Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Greetings. My name is Xander Warso, and I am looking forward to serving y’all as the next Financial Policy Representative on StuCo.
Financial Policy Representative has a lot to do with money. Having sat on FFS for a semester, it has become clear to me that money on this campus, while bountiful, is still difficult to acquire for many groups and individuals. Thus my first act would be to offer a workshop for group treasurers at the beginning of each semester with SBC, SAC, FFS, and the academic and administrative departments invited to explain their respective sources of funding and explain how to best find the money needed to succeed as organizations. This proposition is a portion of the larger issue of transparency, which many funding structures on campus have made more transparent in recent years. I want to continue cultivating the move towards transparency, in supporting and continuing previous initiatives such as the fireside chats.
Funding on this campus, however, extends far beyond students seeking funding for campus projects. At the beginning of this academic year, there was much contention surrounding the power of the Board of Managers and the kinds of decisions they were allowed to make. I believe that these issues went under-addressed, as to how to fully understand the Board of Managers’ actions, and making the Board’s inner workings less cryptic would remove some of the negative stigma and foster student support for initiatives taken by the Board to better this academic institution.
Lastly, as I would sit on the College Budget Committee, I would move to better regulate the budgets allotted by the CBC. As treasurer of Quiz Bowl this year, finding funding to go to Nationals was difficult because SBC was almost tapped and many other budgets, like the Dean’s office budget, were all but extinct until the fall. Thus in order to ensure the continuity of budgets throughout the academic year I propose granting allocations per semester, making the next semester’s budget an emergency fund, in order to provide funding for student initiatives throughout the academic year.
If elected to be next year’s Financial Policy Representative, I will work hard in order to bring positive change to this campus and its constituents. My ears are and will be open, so come talk to me with anything you want to see accomplished.
Thanks all for your time.
Great platform, Xander! Good luck!!
I think you’re confusing the CBC with SBC… “Lastly, as I would sit on the College Budget Committee, I would move to better regulate the budgets allotted by the CBC. As treasurer of Quiz Bowl this year, finding funding to go to Nationals was difficult because SBC was almost tapped and many other budgets, like the Dean’s office budget, were all but extinct until the fall. Thus in order to ensure the continuity of budgets throughout the academic year I propose granting allocations per semester, making the next semester’s budget an emergency fund, in order to provide funding for student initiatives throughout the academic year.”
CBC means the College Budget Committee, which doesn’t have anything to do with the money SBC (Student Budget Committee) has. SBC gets its money from the student activity’s fees that we pay at the beginning of each year; the CBC (which is what the financial policy rep sits on) has to do with the College’s budget (from tuition, endowment, etc.) SBC money is what goes to student groups, SAC, FFS, etc.
I think this is an important example of the continued need for students to know more about how money works at this school. Hopefully the new Financial Policy representative can work for increased transparency around the College’s budget, and SBC and the new Group’s adviser can continue working to increase transparency around SBC’s budget so everyone will understand that they’re two different things.
My understanding was that CBC could help determine whether or not to raise the student activities fee (or at least give a recommendation to the Board of Managers) which in turn could make more money available to the students, no?