SGA Update: Telling students about 'budget crisis' is focus
New constitution, upcoming elections take a back seat to budget
Lauren Blais
Issue date: 2/17/10 Section: News
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Andrew Wilkinson, president of SGA, and other SGA members spent much of the morning in an emergency meeting between GSC administrators and student leaders.
From the meeting students learned that administrators were to submit a document containing proposed budget cuts to the office of the University System of Georgia by Saturday. Over the weekend the USG would study the propositions of all 35 USG colleges and release a plan on Monday.
Currently the USG is not looking to increase tuition or student fees.
During the SGA meeting members shared suggestions on how to help alleviate what is being termed the "budget crisis."
David Parchert suggested that they reduce money allocated to clubs and organizations through student activities fees. SGA helps decide how to distribute this money (see the Allocations Worksheet: www.gscsga.org/Documents/archive).
Cara Ray, adviser to SGA, explained that student activity fees were in a different category than the amount the USG and therefore, GSC, are looking to cut from.
Other suggestions included closing the campus on Friday to save energy, putting a tax on food sold through Gourmet Services.
Wilkinson informed members that a protest was being planned via the Facebook group USG Students for Quality Education. Students from the state's 35 colleges and universities are planning to meet at the capitol on March 15. The platform for the protest is pending the budget-cut decisions released by the BOR on Monday.
Wilkinson said it was SGA's responsibility to get the correct information out once a decision was made.
"We are the ones who are going to be responsible for making sure everyone's on the same page," he said.
SGA member David Spencer said it was important not to sensationalize any information they received.
Some ideas for distributing information included posting on the group's Facebook fan page, hanging up fliers, using the LakerFlash video annoucements, posting on the notice board, handing out info cards and creating Powerpoint slides to show on the Student Center's TVs and large projection screen.
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