Groups back UA request to review budget

Want breakdownWant breakdownof General Fee Three more campus organizations have added their endorsements to an Undergraduate Assembly proposal requesting a budgetary breakdown of General Fee revenues, according to UA Treasurer Steve Schorr. The groups backing the UA effort now include the Social Planning and Events Committee, the Student Activities Council and the Senior Class Board. Schorr, a College sophomore, said the UA and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly want the budget to be made public for the University community in order to clear up discrepancies in reports of fee allocations. The General Fee is paid by all Penn students as part of their tuition. Undergraduates pay $1,674 each year. The fee for graduate students is $1,278, and professional students pay $1,008. "We support looking into the budget allocation to ensure that the undergraduates are getting the most for their money," Senior Class President Lenny Chang, a Wharton senior, said last night. "It's everyone's right to know where their money's going." The UA passed the motion unanimously two nights ago. And GAPSA passed it last week, also unanimously. "I co-wrote the resolution with [second-year Wharton graduate student] Victor Prince, the chairman of GAPSA," Schorr said. "It just came up because I knew that the General Fee was a lot of money and no one had any idea how it was spent, so I was basically curious to see where money went. "I think that undergraduate and graduate students are all uniting behind this issue because we all see it as something very important," he added. Approximately $25 million is generated from the General Fee annually, and the majority of the fee goes to the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life. But discrepancies abound in the allocation of money generated from the fee. The Budget Office says it gives the Office of the VPUL $17.8 million, while VPUL Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum and the University Treasurer claim the office only receives $13.5 million. The Budget Office listed $2 million for athletic funding, while the Treasurer says it allocated $3.2 million for athletics. And while the Budget Office says it gave $2 million for ResNet and $2.4 million for one-time expenses, the Treasurer claims it gave only $1.3 million for ResNet -- and nothing for one-time expenses. According to Schorr, no member of the administration has thus far been willing to show him the official budget. "I've spoken with a lot of people, including people from the Budget and Treasurer's Office, and they've all shown me unofficial numbers," he explained. "None of numbers I've received stayed consistent. That's why we believe that seeing the official budget is crucial." Schorr added he has not spoken to Provost Stanley Chodorow or University President Judith Rodin yet, but said he hopes either one will consent to show him official statistics. And Schorr said that if neither Rodin nor Chodorow will reveal the official budget to the UA, students should feel "very disappointed with their treatment."