• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1978-11-02_Vol44_No11_16

PAGE 16/THE WESTERN CAROLINIAN/NOVEMBER 2, 1978 Carolinian opinion and commentary It's Dollar Days at $GA Guest Editorial by AL LAGANO News Editor Why on earth does WCU need a student senate? After sitting through two and a half hours of discussion on the 1978-79 student senate appropriations to SGA approved clubs and organizations this question begins to surface in one's mind. The senate WASTED and totally IGNORED the greatest and most important power delegated to them by the SGA Constitution—the power to appropriate money. In short, the student senate, which delegates power to the finance committee to review budget requests and meet with WCU clubs and organizations concerning finances and then submit a tentative budget for discussion and amendment on the senate floor, accepts the finance committee version of the budget without one single amendment in two and a half hours of discussions as representatives of certain clubs and organizations looked at an appropriation hardly suitable to meet the expenses of the first eight weeks of school. Not one senator made any suggestion (not to mention an amendment) to improve the finance committee's version of the budget. Not one senator ever went as far as to speak out or voice opposition to any part of the budget or the opinions of any fellow senator. The most that any senator did was "direct" a question to comptroller Roger McKinney or to a member of one of the clubs present. And only one senator had the guts to vote against the 1978-79 appropriations, a piece of legislation which needed vast improvement. With the senate accepting the appropriations (Senate Resolution 748) without amendment I can conclude one of three situtations exist: 1. The finance committee of the student senate produced a perfect piece of legislation which could not have been improved on the senate floor. 2. The student senate really didn't give a damn about either the 1978-79 budget or the clubs that received the money. 3. The senate "froze" due to the large number of people present at Monday's senate meeting and decided to let the finance committee take the blame for the budget if any problems occur. The finance committee might have produced one of the best appropriation bills ever to come out of committee—but it was not by a long shot perfect. The committee put in 15 to 20 long hours a week for the past eight weeks to come up with the best possible budget available. The received budget requests of over 195,000 of which had to be cut to $108,494. Thirty clubs and organizations were funded along with the SGA motor pool, funding for Joyner Building and the student handbook. As hard as the finance committee worked they still needed the advice and suggestions of their fellow senators in the budgeting process. Something they did not get Monday night. I would really hate to think the student senate does not give a damn about SGA appropriations. I'm certain that the majority of senators run for the office because they want to try to improve WCU and student life at this university. But one will begin to wonder how senators, some who were even members of the organizations that were destroyed by the appropriations, could sit back and do nothing for two and a half hours! Maybe the senators felt the finance committee knew best and kept quiet out of fear of producing a worse piece of legislation. Sure, after working so hard on the budget the committee might as well take the blame for any problems that might come up. There is no room for fear on the senate floor. The senate, not the finance committee, is responsible for the budget and the senators will be the ones who will take the blame when problems arise. Maybe the finance committee did produce a budget that will satisfy the clubs and organizations on the WCU campus. Maybe WCU organizations are happy with the senator's actions. The only way anyone will know is to ask them. Ask the Nomad, the WCU literary magazine. They were funded $800 last year but this year the finance committee and the student senate decided that they should not exist—they were eliminated from appropriations. Ask the Organization of Ebony students (OES). The club requested $5,490 for their magazine "Neo-Black- ness" and speakers as well as other services to "promote Black awareness" on campus. "Neo-Black- ness" was buried along with the speakers as was OES' budget request. They got $375. Ask the Catamount yearbook. They have fixed costs of $22,000 ($19,000 for a plain, black and white yearbook already under contract and $3,000 for wages). They got $20,000. Last year they were funded $23,000. Ask the Student Association for Government and Legal Affairs who received $6,700 last year. SAGLA is the organization that is responsible for bringing big name speakers to WCU. In the past such speakers as James Kilpatrick, Danial Shoer, Morris Udall and numerous other political figures came to WCU through this club. SAGLA had requested over $13,000 and had considered such speakers as Gerald Ford, Sam Ervin, Jack Anderson, Jesse Jackson, Dean Rusk and Ralph Nader for this year, each costing over $3,000. There won't be any big names at WCU this year; SAGLA got only $2,000 which will be used to send its members to a simulation United Nations—not for big name speakers to benefit all the WCU students. Ask the North Carolina Student Legislature which received $445. NCSL has a deficit of $235 which was used to send the organization to session in Raleigh last year. Along with that they owe $50 in membership dues, $15 for posters already purchased and $35 to one of the members who paid the hotel bill for the first Interium Council held this year. The club wanted to send 12 people to Session this year which will cost some $60 (that includes each person paying half his lodging). •Turn to Page 14, Please Amnesty Int. speaks out Dear Editor, Amnesty International is a worldwide human rights organization dedicated to the freedom of non-violent political prisoners across the world. Amnesty International recently submitted a constitution and a budget request to the SGA. The proposed budget totalled $136. This money was to be used to help defray the cost of telegrams which we send each month to foreign officials on behalf of "prisoners of conscience" in their countries. SGA, however, and specifically the finance committee has deemed AI unworthy of funds. On top of this we find that the committee concerned with the approval of organizations constitutions did not even consider our constitution. Evidently AI is not only unworthy of funds, but also unworthy of recognition. There are some facts about Amnesty International which we feel should come out. •AI is one of the few world-wide organizations on campus. We have branches in over 36 countries and deal with prisoners in over 100. •AI is the only Nobel Peace Prize winning organization on campus. We won the prize in 1977. •AI is the only organization on campus with consultive status with the United Nations, The Organization of i American States, the Organization of African Unity, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). •AI is the only organization on campus which has gained the freedom of over 15,000 non-violent political prisoners since its founding in 1961. Yet despite these facts, SGA has deemed Amnesty International not only unworthy of funds, but unworthy of official recognition. So, students of Western, what can you do? Talk to your Senators, President and Vice-President. We need and want recognition. Not only do we need your help, but the thousands of prisoners rotting in Soviet, Chilean and other prisons around the world need your help. Richard M Johnson Dear Editor, Sometimes I find myself disgraced before my open checkbook, for I know that it's true to some extent that a person's priorities lie in those things they will pay for. I guess I've bought some good times, but for the most part I'm left considering a lot of needless and thoughtless spending. I think WCU's Student Government Association may possibly relate to such matters. If we may for practical purposes, consider dollars in terms of points of priority, we might begin to understand exactly what our "elected" representatives deem worthy, less worthy and even negligible in their decisions concerning budget allocations this year. Now obviously they take themselves seriously enough alone to score over l4Vi thousand points. The dire need for the students of this university to secure a book of portraits at the end of the year deserved 20 thousand. An organization aspiring to serve the social needs within this community, i.e. the needs of the poor, the aged, handicapped, etc., was credited with 70 points of worthiness, a sum less than one-sixth of that awarded to a club for barbells. Maybe all this isn't so extraordinary in light of the fact that an organization dedicated to the basic human rights all humans are worthy of, the only organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the rest of the world, was simply rejected altogether by those who would have themselves referred to as our leaders of tomorrow. I would like to understand truthfully where in hell they would have us follow. Maybe somewhere along the line my education took a wrong turn, away from reality, but I have to ask the question, "What is so wrong (un-American) with trying to save a condemned man's life, freeing a human being from physical and mental torture, or simply bringing pressure upon repression?" The answer is nothing-which is exactly what Amnesty International was considered in the eyes of our student representatives. Robert B. Cochran EDITOR-IN-CHIEF David Jackson BUSINESS MANAGER David Curtis MANAGING EDITOR Mark Wilkins NEWS EDITOR AlLagano DESIGN EDITOR Eddie Yandle CLASSIFIED ADS jovce Cooper The Western Carolinian is published every Thursday throughout the academic year and summer sessions by the students of Western Carolina University Ail letters must be signed although names will be withheld by reque't, all classifieds are printed free or. a first come first servci basis, and all opinions in columns, letters and signed editorials are not necessarily those of the editor. Offices: Joyner 10 Telephone: (704) 2?3 7267. The'Western Carolinian is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action employer. ADDESIGN/COMP PHOTOGRAPHERS Eddie Nunn Jeanette Beaudry FACULTY ADVISOR ES. McDaniel Gerry Schwartz John Daughtry CIRCULATION MANAGER Mark Stewart Keith Tidwell PHOTO EDITOR Lewis Greene STAFF WRITERS Cathy Bailey Celeste Garson Chip Hammond Lane Gardner Kathy Malone J.M. Trinks Eli Walker' Laura West Rick Whitman CARTOONIST Charlie Lawing ACCOUNTANT RobGathings AD SALESMAN Leon Britt SECRETARY Kim Youmans PRODUCTION Karen Bailey LeGrande Lister Molly Thompson THE WESTERN CAROLINIAN p. O Box 66 Cullowhee. N.C. 28723 -*- US POSTAGE l»AID P»rmiH1 CuMwtwt. NC

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1978-11-02
  • Date digitized: 2018-08-27
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22" x 16"
  • Pages: 20 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1978-11-02_Vol44_No11
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library