SGA needs to gauge student interest before resolution vote

The bond between USD and Vermillion is a unique relationship.

It’s a symbiotic relationship that in most instances has had a positive impact on the two entities, and will continue to do so. But in light of possible actions being considered by the Student Government Association, the bond between the city and the university may have gone too far.

SGA senators voted Tuesday night to refer a resolution calling for the donation of $20,000 from its reserve fund to the Vermillion Downtown Cultural Association to the SGA Finance Committee. This is an effort that if passed will aid in the revitalization of the city’s two movie theaters by covering half the costs of a digital projector and sound system.

While USD’s overall involvement in the project to help save two of the city’s iconic downtown destinations is not necessarily a bad thing, the fact that SGA is donating a significant amount of money – nearly half of its reserve funds – to the cause is concerning in a some ways.

First, the money that makes up the SGA reserve fund comes from leftover student organization-allocated money. So basically if a student organization doesn’t spend the funds it was allocated by SGA for that year, that money goes back to SGA and into its reserve fund.

The money SGA allocates to student organizations through a budgeting process each spring comes from a portion of the general activity fee – something all students pay for each year as part of their tuition and fees.

So in the scheme of things, the SGA reserve fund is made up of student money. While the fund is in total control of SGA – and that’s OK – students should have a say in how SGA spends large sums of their money.

GAF funds are similar to paying taxes to the federal government – with the idea that USD is the government and students are the citizens. While citizens may not know exactly how their taxes are being spent, they can expect the money to be spent on things that will benefit the country as a whole.

The idea here is USD students paid a general activity fee, and should expect that money to benefit the university in some way. Students may not exactly like how the money is being spent, but at the very least they know their money went to improve USD.

Students pay a lot of money to attend USD, no matter how affordable it may be compared to other universities around the country, and it shouldn’t be up to students to fund projects that go beyond the university.

That’s not to say the university shouldn’t put forth financial resources to help the VDCA bring back to life the town’s movie theaters. It should – Vermillion and USD rely on each other.

But instead of using student-derived funds, it should fundraise independently and seek donations from private donors.

The second concern with SGA considering donating $20,000 to the VDCA is its lack of student outreach about both its actions, and its failure to properly gauge student interest about the project.

Again, while SGA has every right to donate these funds, one of the founding principles of SGA is to serve students and represent their needs.

Is helping to save the town’s movie theaters a student concern? Maybe, but SGA hasn’t taken the necessary means to survey its constituency about what they think.

Prior to its $20,000 proposal to the VDCA, SGA used reserve funds to erect the Legacy Statue in front of Old Main. As part of that project, students had the option to vote for what statue they wanted to adorn one of the trademark views of campus.

The project was a campus-wide discussion, and students got a chance to exercise their stake in the university’s image that will last for years to come.

Additionally, SGA President Sami Zoss serves on the VDCA board as a USD student representative. Being the SGA president and what the SGA represents, this appointment makes sense.

Because the SGA did not properly gather a consensus of student interest about the VDCA project, this failure also reflects on Zoss, who is supposed to be representing the interests of the entire student body on the VDCA board.

While the city and university have a unique bond, and each holds an important stake in the other’s future, students should not have to bear the burden of funding both a university and funding the well-being of a town.