Editorial | Financial reform

The recession may be the reason that federal and local governments’ coffers are empty, but why is the Student Activities Committee going bankrupt?

In response to severely dwindling reserves, SAC recently instituted a temporary moratorium on funding for new groups.

SAC’s reserve fund, burdened by over-budgeting and debt accumulated by student groups over many years, stands at just a fraction of its usual size.

This financial crisis is a symptom of the mismanagement that has plagued SAC for quite some time now. It doles out money inefficiently and unwisely and does not do much to monitor how student groups spend the money they receive. Groups can be, and most often are, reimbursed for every little thing they choose to purchase. This lack of oversight is the reason that student groups currently hold such an enormous amount of debt.

Instead of suspending funding for new groups, SAC should restructure its entire electronic request system to make the process more transparent and develop a more judicious way to allocate funds. The current process is difficult to understand and navigate. A restructuring is necessary to allow money to be distributed much more efficiently and with adequate supervision.

New groups shouldn’t have to suffer for the careless management of SAC in the past.

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