GSSC Debates Finances, Resignations

After a meeting last week dominated by arguments over finances, the General Studies Student Council will hold a town hall Tuesday night to resolve lingering questions about how funds were spent last semester.

The finance committee released an accounting of last semester’s expenditures Monday, revealing a $38,000 decrease in funds from last year due to lower enrollment and higher expenditures on club funding.

The town hall will address criticisms by former Social Chair Ashley Forman, GS, who said the budget passed earlier in the year had not been honored.

Forman stepped down Feb. 10 with a dramatic resignation letter in which she claimed the budget for the annual Spring Gala, which she has been placed in charge of organizing, had been cut and contracts had been canceled without her knowledge. She also said she was not allowed the “creative control” the job description promised. This year’s budget allotted $11,500 for the event, which some other GSSC members have said is too high for the relatively low turnout.

Her resignation followed a meeting Feb. 8 with the financial committee, where, after approving several proposals from Forman, the committee questioned giving complimentary umbrellas to Gala attendees. Committee member Aaron Lewis, GS, said the $2,200 could be used in better ways, such as making the meal kosher. But, Lewis said, the committee felt uncomfortable making the decision, and left it to the executive board, which canceled the line item.

But Forman said she “did not quit over the simple subject of the umbrellas,” but over her feeling that her job was coopted by vice president of finance Keith Hightower, GS, and GSSC president Niko Cunningham, GS.

Lewis denied that the financial committee had been canceling contracts, and said the dining contract with Columbia Catering reviewed at the last committee meeting was the first presented to committee members.

“This is a matter with someone not agreeing that the finance committee should have that sort of power,” Cunningham said. “But especially in this year’s budget crunch, it has to be had.”

Council members have also criticized a performing arts event held in November. While $200 had been allocated for the event, Forman and others allege that a student not on GSSC entered into a contract with the artists on behalf of the council, and that GSSC was then committed to spend several thousand dollars. The GSSC constitution requires expenses exceeding $200 to be brought before the council.

Hightower said Dominic Stellini, associate dean of the School of General Studies, is still investigating what happened.

Some have also criticized the way the executive board has operated this semester, especially in light of the resignations of two elected officials. Vice President of Student Life Cheryl Berg, GS, stepped down at the beginning of the semester, followed several weeks later by Forman. Vice President of Communications Brody Berg, GS, assumed the vacancy left by Cheryl Berg, while Hightower will finish the Gala preparations.

“I think that we should fill positions as soon as possible,” Hightower said, but added that he thought the extensive turnover has made some people reluctant to install council members who might not remain in their positions through the end of the year.

Cunningham said constitutional gray areas have led to disagreements over
the division of power.

“The GSSC has the authority to approve a budget, but the GSSC is not called in to say, ‘You can save money here or there.’ That’s the finance committee’s job,” Cunningham said. “All these interlocking pieces aren’t really spelled out, so everyone who has an agenda can say how the constitution doesn’t really fit their needs. So these things probably should be delineated a little bit better.”

“The Social Chair has a responsibility to plan the Gala, not the right to do as he or she sees fit without oversight,” Vice President of Policy Nancy Saunders, GS, said in an e-mail. “It seemed there was some confusion about ‘creative control,’ when in fact, finance and the greater council have a responsibility to oversee allocation of resources.”

Student Services Representative Joel Pichardo, GS, expressed concern about what he called a “trampling” of the constitution, and Cunningham said he hoped the constitution would be seriously examined at the end of the year.

“The constitution needs to be amended in many different ways,” Cunningham said. “We haven’t had a really good thorough review in a long time, and so the policy committee has actually set up a constitutional review committee.”

The town hall is scheduled for tonight in lieu of the usual GSSC meeting.

alix.pianin@columbiaspectator.com