The student government’s meeting minutes have not been posted on their website for over a month and Ferris’ finance division meeting minutes are completely unavailable. While the student government has no problem keeping its executive board’s headshots and biographies up to date, they apparently cannot be bothered with maintaining transparency.
In other words, the student government, which operates within a public university is spending your money without disclosing where it’s going.
Think of the student government like the federal government. You elect senators, representatives and the president, and they are supposed to fight for your best interests. Your tuition and student activity fee are like taxes and where your money goes is impacted by them. How would it make you feel that your tax dollars are being spent in a way that is unbeknownst to you?
The student government’s mission statement includes, “…maintain open channels of communication between students, faculty, staff, administration and the Big Rapids community.”
This statement does not leave much open for interpretation, their goal is to be transparent.
While the political debate about student debt rages on, the people with the power to spend your money wisely are neglecting to be transparent. Before you look for presidential candidates for answers to your debt problem, look at what the student government is spending your money on… if you can find it.
While it may be irresponsible to speculate why these documents are unavailable, that’s all I can do! Speculate is all Ferris students can do! Whether it’s a matter of irresponsibility, incompetence or something more shady, we won’t know until we have the minutes available to us.
Putting a student government position on your resume might look good to an employer but when you take on a position with the student government your job goes beyond this and should be taken seriously.
Join with me in demanding that these documents be made available immediately and for the student government to, from now on, uphold their responsibility to the students and to live up to their mission.
Read up on student government’s recent impeachment here.