It's nice of ASMSU, MSU's student government, to have students foot the bill for their "retreat" this weekend.
The members must be preparing to be more like some officials in Congress. Good job; using taxpayers' money for frivolous business expenses is a great first step.
The $6,000 budget for this weekend isn't much of ASMSU's total budget, but they should be held accountable for every dime they spend.
ASMSU wants students to believe the retreat is a legitimate expense.
"There's actually a long tradition of a leadership retreat going back at least 30 years," said Roger Ludy, vice chairperson for internal affairs for ASMSU's Student Assembly, in the State News article "ASMSU to spend $6K on retreat weekend" (SN 10/13). "Getting away even just a little bit really helps focus people on not worrying about the standard busy MSU life for two days to dedicate this time to get the leadership all working together."
Unfortunately for ASMSU, we don't buy it.
It might be a long-standing tradition, but this year ASMSU is starting the festivities Friday night rather than Saturday morning — blowing an extra $550 in the process.
What is ASMSU planning to do during the extra night? It's hard to believe they would take another night to start "discussing goals" instead of the next morning. And let's not forget these are college students on a "bonding" trip. On a Friday night. On student money.
They could at least do a decent charade and not try to fool their fellow students into believing that the extra 12 hours or so is going to be used to set goals, as Ludy said. Not when the extra 12 hours falls on a Friday night.
When ASMSU returns from their business in Battle Creek, they must produce a list of expenditures which shows students didn't finance what sounds like a road trip.
As long as student money — even if it is fewer than 8 cents per student — is being used to fund ASMSU's weekend, students deserve to know how it was spent.
In other words, which Battle Creek bar did they go to? Inquiring minds want to know.
If students never get the receipts, we won't be surprised. They've used loopholes in the past to distance themselves from regulations government bodies have (in 2003, then-Student Assembly Chairperson Matt Weingarden said, "We're not a governing body, we don't have to follow the same rules.").
So it's not unlikely to expect that they'll hold themselves accountable to students.
Why? Because they claim that, even though they take student tax money and are elected by the student body, they are a private entity.
Keep it in mind when January comes around and you can get your ASMSU tax back in the first 10 days of the semester.
