In response to my claim that slate politics determine base
budget allocations, Justin Schreiber presented solid arguments
(“Quality, not slates, key in budget allocations,” Oct.
3); however, he missed the point of my criticism.
My concerns are not based on one year of observation but rather
a long-term evaluation. Precisely because I am an alumnus and a
former insider to the USAC political process, I have the necessary
experience and hindsight to recognize the frailties of the base
budget allocation process. Schreiber’s submission focuses on
the particular details of this year’s Budget Review Committee
deliberations. I agree the process is ““ and has been ““
objectively fair. An objective process, however, can produce
subjectively harmful results. Our university’s admissions
process, for example, is objectively fair yet causes an issue of
underrepresented minorities.
This year the BRC awarded, on average, 70 percent more base
budget funds to groups aligned with Students First! than to groups
politically opposed to SF! If this were a statistical anomaly,
there would not be an issue. Regretfully, this is not abnormal. It
is habitual. The Praxis/Student Empowerment!/Students First! regime
maintains a harmful spoils-to-the-victor attitude in distributing
mandatory student fees.
Finally, my proposed solution of granting base budget allocation
duties to the Center for Student Programming is completely in
accordance with Schreiber’s demand that students decide how
mandatory fees be spent. The students declared their priorities and
guidelines in the USAC bylaws. An impartial application of those
bylaws would be more in accordance with the students’ will
than a corrupt manipulation by student politicians.
In short, I believe that all base budget-worthy organizations
contribute positively to this campus. If we continue to allow a
select few to receive disproportionate funding, we are silencing
political losers and cheating our campus’ diversity
potential.
Hurwitz is a first-year law student and former president of
the Jewish Student Union.