Question #3
Do you believe that all SBA proceedings should be open and accessible to the school community? What would you do to make the SBA more transparent?
David Mitchell, 2L, President, Day Division Senator
It is absolutely crucial that SBA meetings and action be open to the public and transparent in order to ensure accountability and encourage student participation. To increase student participation and create a student government that addresses the everyday concerns of the average student, this issue really comes down to two issues, transparency in SBA action and communication with the student body. As these two concepts are closely related, I will address them together. In order to achieve more student participation through transparency and communication, a Mitchell administration will not only continue to open all meetings to the public, but also will hold meetings at times and locations that are more accessible to the entire student body. In addition to the night meetings that are essential to night student participation, I will hold SBA meetings during the day in order to ensure that SBA meetings are readily accessible to all day students. I will video tape all SBA meetings so that they will be readily available for web streaming off the SBA website or the portal. Under a Mitchell administration, the SBA will have weekly table time in the soft and hard lounges in order to facilitate student participation and input. Additionally, I will also hold well advertised monthly executive forums where students will have direct access to the President in order to voice concerns and contribute ideas. I will encourage direct student input on matters ranging from social events to broader policy initiatives through weekly TWEN surveys. I will also publish the SBA budge line by line so that you know where your tuition dollars are being spent and that money is being distributed equitably. Finally, I will give the SBA website a makeover so that it is an interactive forum where students can both obtain information and contribute ideas on policy initiatives, or express student concerns. Through this multi-pronged approach, I am confident that the SBA will become a transparent organization possessing the channels of communication with the student body that are necessary to transform the SBA into a body that is responsive to the concerns of the entire student body and facilitates student participation.
Kenneth Rotter, 2L, President
Absolutely. SBA proceedings should be open, accessible, and publicized to every member of the school community. In order to make the SBA more transparent, I will keep SBA proceedings open to everyone. I will also increase e-mail communication between myself, the SBA, and the students. I will hold weekly office hours inside the law school buildings where any students can come and voice their concerns about anything that is on their minds. Students will have more opportunities to voice their opinions on venues and dates for social events. Most importantly, I will follow through with anyone who seeks my help so that they know the importance and effect of their input.
The SBA is about action. Students need to be kept aware and involved every step of the way in addressing these problems. At the beginning of my campaign, I called for the SBA to increase student involvement and to communicate more openly with what is being done to fix the internet connection on campus. Less than two days later, the SBA adopted my position and set up a wireless problem report and a wireless connection update page to keep students abreast of its progress. I applaud the current administration’s willingness to accept outside ideas and if elected I promise to continue these efforts to ensure that the internet problems are permanently solved.
John Sorrenti, 2L, President
Theresa Bowman, 1L, Vice President, 2L Day Senator
I believe SBA proceedings should continue to be open to the school community. Currently, the senate can vote to close a meeting where they believe a confidential meeting will aid deliberations. I think the senate should continue to have this power. As for more accessibility, I support advertising Senate meetings via email and on the SBA website. The perceived lack of SBA transparency involves more communication with the student body. I would make sure the website is updated with information on what the senate is discussing/debating at each meeting, and I think bi-weekly emails from the VP on the “state of the senate” would be helpful to students. Information concerning projects the SBA is working on, issues debated in each meeting, and how students can direct comments and feedback to individual members should be easy for students to access. At the same time, I think it’s easy to go overboard in response to a call for greater transparency. I promise not to overwhelm students (and their inboxes) with information about what the SBA is doing.
Liz Westbrook, 2L, Vice President
Do I believe that each and every SBA proceeding should be open and public? No. We are elected and appointed officials who the student body has chosen, presumably upon reflection, to serve in the best way possible. Certain decisions are sensitive and must be made discretely. My record however reflects my belief that SBA Senate meetings should be open and accessible. Having read people’s desires to be more included and informed about SBA proceedings here on Sua Sponte I moved Rahul to publicize Senate meetings and to publish my minutes on the SBA website. As Vice President I plan on appointing a Senator to take minutes and continuing to publicize meetings. A lot of people have been asking candidates about publishing the budget. As a two-year member of the finance committee I am directly involved in budget allocations, and I am confident that publishing what organizations are receiving would not only be a violation of privacy, but would only serve to create friction among groups. It would also be unhelpful to the organizations as what one group is receiving has no bearing on any other group-we decide each budget request on its own merits. What I do propose to do is simplify the budget process by revamping the Treasurer’s Manual and explaining to student organizations-possibly through a forum with the Vice President of Finance before budget requests are due-why we make the decisions we make. Organizations should know coming in what we fund and what we don’t, as well as what they can do to make their group more likely to receive the entire amount requested. I would also offer any organization wishing to appeal their allocation a list of reasons we made the decision we did so that they could tailor their appeal or future ad hoc requests to be more successful in front of the Senate.
Navah Spero, 2L, Day Division Senator, 3L Day Senator
Yes. All SBA proceedings should be open and accessible to the school community. One of the biggest problems I see with the SBA today is its lack of transparency. Until recently, SBA Senate meetings were not announced and no meeting minutes were posted. I applaud Rahul for taking this step, and hope that the next VP continues his new policy. But I think we can do better than that. Clear minutes can help students understand who the participants are and what exactly they’re advocating for, whether it is a student, student group or senator. In addition, I think the SBA’s budgeting process should be more transparent in two ways. First, the SBA’s budget should be publicly available to everyone, including what it spends on individual groups and what it spends on the parties and events it throws as well. The SBA is spending student’s money, and all students have a right to know how that money is being spent. One of the SBA’s big accomplishments in recent years was getting more University student activity funds spent on law students. That’s great, but I want to know what events this money is going to. Second, the budgeting process for student groups is inefficient and creates an antagonistic relationship between the groups and the SBA. The guidelines for budget requests should be sent out before group budgets are due. If a group appeals, the SBA should have to give a reason for denying that request. I think students should know how much the SBA is spending on student groups, parties, bar reviews, etc. so that the SBA can be held accountable for these decisions.
Navdeep Singh, 1L, Day Division Senator, 2L Day Senator
SBA meetings should be open while respecting the confidentiality of items such as individual organizational budgets. By opening the meetings we can improve communication and make it easier for people to get more involved in the SBA and by extension the larger Law School community. To make it effective there will have to be a considerable effort to publicize them so that students can get involved. The outcomes can be published on the website and emailed out those students who expressed an interest in the topic discussed. Additionally, townhalls and feedback sessions can be held, and the location of feedback forms or relevant contact information can be made more accessible.
Does anyone else find it amusing that Kenny is taking responsibility for something (the SBA’s wireless problem report) that he had absolutely nothing to do with? The SBA has been working on this issue for months and now Kenny is claiming credit for it even though he has never made any effort to aid the SBA in any way and has done nothing to help set up the wireless problem report system, a process that has taken months and much communication with the law school’s administration. It is also worth noting that on Wednesday night all six of the candidates for SBA President and Executive Vice President discussed improving the school’s wireless as a major platform of their campaigns. For Kenny to now take credit for the SBA’s action is at best disingenuous and at worst a flat-out lie.
Every candidate supports transparency except one: Liz Westbrook. Wow. I am actually surprised because Liz generally seems to be interested and responsive to student requests. Time to wake up and hear what students are saying Liz. Everyone complains that the SBA is closed and does too many things in secret. 5 out of 6 said yes and you said (and I’m quoting): “No.” Wow.
You also want organization budgets to be secret because that would be “a violation of privacy” and cause “friction.” Student organizations exist for the benefit of the student body. They have no privacy. You don’t have to print the social security number of the person who gets the reimbursement check, but students have a right to know how the money is being allocated in a general way. If one group gets a larger allocation than another then groups are going to think: Gee, the other group is larger, better organized, has more programming planned, and gave a better presentation at the budget meeting than I did.
Unless of course they think that they got a smaller allocation because the SBA is playing favorites. In which case the SBA will have to JUSTIFY their decisions on allocations. Maybe even in writing. Maybe on their website. Earth to Liz! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE STUDENTS WANT AND ARE ASKING FOR. More openness. We are all adults here. We don’t need the SBA to withhold information for our own good because it will cause “friction.”
There already is friction between different groups because they do not know what other groups get and just make assumptions. See, e.g. apparently mistaken comments on Sua Sponte about purported $4,000 bar tab allocation for Law Revue. Who do we elect to mediate this “friction?” THE SBA. That’s your job!
I generally like you Liz, and from what I can tell, I think you do a pretty decent job, but you really need to rethink this one.
Dear 2L,
I am not now, nor have I ever, taken credit for fixing the internet. My position is and has always been communication with students and keeping them informed of the progress being made. That is what the SBA is now doing.
You are correct in stating that this problem has persisted for months and months. The first SBA e-mail regarding the problem was in February, four months after the SBA supposedly got involved. Our student body deserves to be kept in the loop. They deserve to know all the steps the SBA is taking and the progress that is being achieved. As I have repeatedly said, the current administration has put in many, many hours and worked without recognition on many items affecting GW Law. However, they have not informed the students of this. I applaud the new direction the SBA is taking regarding the internet. If elected, I will continue this effort.
Liz, could you elaborate a little more on why you think it would be a bad idea to open up the budgets to the public? You said that, “It would also be unhelpful to the organizations as what one group is receiving has no bearing on any other group-we decide each budget request on its own merits.” But the SBA doesn’t have unlimited funds to distribute. If one group is getting a disproportionate or unfair amount of money, isn’t that something that we, the student body, should know? I am absolutely not accusing the current SBA of distributing money unfairly or “playing favorites.” I just don’t understand why opening the financial records to the public would be such a terrible idea and would like a little more clarification.
I’m impressed that so many of the candidates proposed such an open budget. I’m sure that I am not alone when I say I want to know exactly where the money is going.
In general, when dealing with openness, everyone’s concern seems to be that they want to keep us updated without flooding our inbox – really, this shouldn’t be a concern. I’d rather have too many emails from the SBA than too little if it means that I’m being kept informed. It takes very little time to delete an email.
And to throw my hat into the internet debate – 3L, I just have a couple points about your post. First, you said, “The SBA has been working on this issue for months.” While that may be true, there hasn’t been any notice to the student body about what the SBA has been doing during those months. The internet’s been terrible the entire school year. If the SBA recognized it as a problem from the beginning, they should have let us know when they started this process what exactly they were doing.
Also, you say that “[Kenny] has done nothing to help set up the wireless problem report system, a process that has taken months and much communication with the law school’s administration.” It’s taken months to set up a report system online? Really? I’m pretty sure Liz posted just last week that, “Currently SBA’s technology committee is drafting a survey to be sent to the student body to help IT better understand exactly what isn’t working, when and where.” So, correct me if I’m wrong, the committee developed the survey last week, and it was implemented this week.
2L wrote, “If one group gets a larger allocation than another then groups are going to think: Gee, the other group is larger, better organized, has more programming planned, and gave a better presentation at the budget meeting than I did.
Unless of course they think that they got a smaller allocation because the SBA is playing favorites. In which case the SBA will have to JUSTIFY their decisions on allocations. Maybe even in writing. Maybe on their website.”
—
Perhaps this post was edited after you commented — Navdeep seems to be thinking along the same lines. I’d agree with him and Liz on the narrow issue that student group budgets should probably not be published, at least by default.
To be blunt, you give students here too much credit in expecting they’d think rationally about budgets. By contrast, we’ve spent more than three meetings and many hours trying to figure out how to mediate disputes over fundraisers that students want to hold because they are incapable of working things out themselves. Just one example.
There is a reason you pick representatives — because if everyone is involved in everything, government grinds to a halt. If I’ve learned anything this year, it is a sure sense that the same will be true if the SBA is bombarded with every student group complaining about what the other one got and why. At some point, you need to let go and step back and let the machine work. And if you want more involvement, you should run — there’s a shortage of candidates according to the earlier post here.
I’d be in favor of having the Finance Committee make tentative decisions that are discussed and debated by everyone in the Senate. I’d be in favor of votes being recorded and published, even on individual group budgets. And why not give individual student groups a full report on why they got what they did and any disagreement surrounding it? No problem there. If individual student groups want to publish their individual numbers and rationales, I don’t think there’s anything the SBA can do to stop it.
In fact, if there is really genuinely sufficient interest in this, why don’t all the student groups publish their budgets to to this blog right now?
“To be blunt, you give students here too much credit in expecting they’d think rationally about budgets. ”
I respectfully disagree. We are talking about law school students. The question is not whether there will be arguments over allocations (because that exists in the status quo). The question is whether we as students DESERVE to be treated as ADULTS who can make rational decisions.
Arguments and disagreements exist and will continue to exist no matter what. We elect representatives to make efficient decisions, true. But that efficiency exists because we elect representatives to make/propose a decision instead of having a school-wide referendum on every allocation. We don’t elect an SBA so that they can decide what is best for us in secret.
There is nothing wrong with telling people what is going on.
“I’d be in favor of having the Finance Committee make tentative decisions that are discussed and debated by everyone in the Senate. I’d be in favor of votes being recorded and published, even on individual group budgets. And why not give individual student groups a full report on why they got what they did and any disagreement surrounding it? No problem there.”
We’re in agreement here. I go further, though. That discussion and debate in the Senate is the part where every student organization “bombards” with request for more money. And then, the budget is finalized. And published. And there are relative winners and losers. And the losers might complain.
But it doesn’t matter if the losers complain, because:
1. If they have a really good argument, the SBA can give them an emergency allocation (that already exists.
2. THEY ALREADY COMPLAIN AND THERE IS ALREADY FRICTION between groups who perceive that they were slighted in the allocation process. And life goes on. Most groups got something less than 100% of their budget proposal. Maybe the president of HLSA is insanely jealous of the president of APALSA because of allocation envy. I doubt it. But even if that is the case: SO WHAT? That’s life.
Please change your mind so that I can vote for you, Liz.
“At the beginning of my campaign, I called for the SBA to increase student involvement and to communicate more openly with what is being done to fix the internet connection on campus. Less than two days later, the SBA adopted my position and set up a wireless problem report and a wireless connection update page to keep students abreast of its progress. I applaud the current administration’s willingness to accept outside ideas and if elected I promise to continue these efforts to ensure that the internet problems are permanently solved.” –Kenny Rotter
Here we go again.
3L–this is exactly the point I was trying to make yesterday. Kenny is using semantics to imply that he’s actually the one who has acted to get results on the internet issue. The report idea has been in the works for weeks (attn: Another Concerned 2L), despite Kenny’s implication that it was his suggestion that caused it to come to fruition. I’m not trying to attack Kenny, but as voters, I think we are entitled to call the candidates out for false statements (or implications) they make. I certainly wouldn’t want someone who puts this kind of spin on the facts to be the voice of the student body.
Just out of curiosity, Megan, how do you know that it’s been “in the works for weeks”? My guess is that you have friends in the SBA. How would the student body know that information since the SBA didn’t mention this idea publicly until last week? I just want to get the facts straight.
If the SBA has been working on this since day one, that’s fantastic. But where’s the communication with the student body?
I concur with Yet Another Concerned 2L.
Just an observation…
Megan, for someone not in the SBA you sure do seem to have a lot of inside information, and for someone who is concerned to be “simply trying to hold the candidates accountable for what they say”, and not “trying to attack Kenny” that seems to be what most of your recent posts are about.
After posting my last question to Megan, I began to wonder – what is the real answer here? Most of the campaigns this year are demanding communication – let’s start now. We need someone from the SBA Technology Committee to clear this up.
When did the committee first acknowledge that something was wrong and contact the administration? Can we get a timeline from someone reliable – someone actually on the committee and involved in this process?
2L wrote: “The question is whether we as students DESERVE to be treated as ADULTS who can make rational decisions.”
The idealist in me agrees with you. I don’t think my stance is particularly principled, because students should know where their money goes. But, after a year of watching the relations between the SBA, student groups, and the student body, nearly all my expectations have been lowered and the question above isn’t as easy to answer as you’d expect. At this point, I just think the negatives outweigh the benefits. Your position is the right one in an ideal world.
I feel like people completely misunderstand my answer so I would like to clear some things up. First of al, 2L, only 2 other candidates even mentioned the budget, and neither of them have ever been on SBA let alone involved in a budget hearing, so their optimism, while attractive, is hollow as it springs from a place of inexperience. Also, based on the answers given at Wednesday’s town hall, it appears the two other Vice Presidential candidates share my concerns about creating more problems than we would be solving. I’m afraid groups would fight and the Senate and/or Gavel Club would be turned into judicial bodies unable to do anything but mediate appeals and inter-group fighting. I say this because we are doing that right now as B pointed out, and this is even without a published itemized budget.
I think the friction here comes from people not understanding how the finance committee works. Having been on the finance committee for two years and sat through the 40 or so hours of budget hearings at the beginning of the year, I know how allocations are made. When one group comes in we do not compare them to another, each request is evaluated on its own. While it is true that we have a limited budget, we have enough money that we have never had to make some sort of judgment call on which group is better than others.
Knowing of people’s concerns, I met with Chris Porter, the VP of Finance earlier in the week to discuss what we could do to make the budget more clear and accessible and the answer we came to is what I tried to explain in my response: I am already working on fixing the Treasurer’s Report so that groups can write their budget requests knowing exactly how and why we make decisions. I advocate complete openness in this process.
Having said all this, if I am elected and the Senate passes a bill publishing the budget I will sign it. So far however, no one has approached the SBA with a bill or formal request. The commitment of some candidates to immediately publish the budget may sound pretty, but it isn’t how things actually work. We need student input, so consider this a formal invitation to anyone who wants a published budget to do some research as to how and why.
Joe and Yet Another concerned 2L–
you’re right, I do have friends in the SBA. the reason I know so much about this is because I have ASKED them what steps they’ve taken to work on this problem. I agree that there hasn’t been enough done to communicate this to the students–SBA definitely has a problem with this and whoever is elected needs to fix it. I’ve never said that the SBA is perfect; i think there are a LOT of things to be done, and I have expressed this sentiment to current SBA members. But for the average uninformed student (who wouldn’t be uninformed if SBA communicated with the student body better), kenny’s statements make it seem like he’s the reason for the internet problem being addressed. I’m simply trying to explain that his assertions are false, and it’s pretty shady for him to make statements like these. I was a pretty neutral voter at the start of the campaign, and was open to hear what all three presidential candidates had to say; however, i find it unacceptable for ANY candidate to make false implications that confuse the voters–we need to hold our SBA president to a higher standard than that.
It’s amazing how this election has turned into a ridiculous debate about rhetoric.
I could absolutely care less whether or not David or Kenny think the SBA is open, or closed, or just not open on Sundays – you know why? Because they’ve never been in the SBA. Does anyone else think it’s weird that they haven’t run for anything before now? No offense or sarcasm implied – but managing a restaurant and running JLSA do not substitute for real experience in student government. David and Kenny, this isn’t playtime – this isn’t your high school, or even your college student government. We have the largest student government budget in the country, hundreds of students with differing backgrounds, and a high-profile institution that constantly needs attention – we don’t need gunners who just want to put “President” on their resume or think it’s just a “figurehead” position.
When it comes down to it, the best candidate isn’t the one that can come up with the biggest platform for “change.” It’s whether or not they can get the job done. If I can’t trust the president or EVP to do the job as it exists now, I sure as heck am not going to trust them to produce “change” that won’t damage our relationship to the deans, alienate the undergrad SA, waste our budget, and generally diminish all the progress we’ve made in the past five years since the SBA started improving exponentially.
From what David and Kenny have published on this forum, they’ve shown that they know nothing about how the SBA works. David has no idea how the Finance Committee runs, Kenny completely disregards the Senate and the Tech Committee and pisses off the IT staff and the administration with his cowboy rhetoric, and both haven’t a clue what the President actually does. I’d love to hear more about what they think the everyday duties of the President are besides “listening” and “opening communication channels” – because those things are b.s. and buzzwords. If you actually asked either what the President does or who in the SBA does what, I’d be willing to bet they’d say “have to get back to you on that one.”
Surely, we could have had a candidate with no SBA experience come out in this race and do well. But the comments on this forum have shown that John Sorrenti is the only one who is capable of doing the job of the SBA President because he actually knows what the job entails and can get it done.
Megan and 3L-
I have helped with Kenny’s campaign over the past week, and I know for a fact that he is not trying to take credit for the SBA’s progress on the internet issue. In the quotation cited by Megan, he actually congratulates the SBA for its willingness to incorporate student ideas on this issue. This statement makes it clear that Kenny is not claiming their progress as his own. If I thought he was, I would not have approved the statement.
However, it is curious that this progress and the SBA’s newfound willingness to incorporate student ideas has suddenly materialized right in the middle of election week.
After the issue was raised by Kenny, and now that current SBA members have to run against him, publicity seems to be a much higher priority for the SBA. This is the point of Kenny’s post and the point of his campaign.
I have also noticed posters informing students of the SBA’s receptiveness to complaints about the school’s facilities. Amazingly, these posters appeared only after Kenny observed at the town hall meeting that this program was poorly publicized.
I have the utmost respect for the current SBA because its members put in a lot of work that the rest of us would never want to do. Kenny is merely pointing out that the SBA should place more focus on communication with the students.
It seems easy for 3L and Megan to dismiss these concerns, but the SBA seems to be taking them very seriously.
–Matt McGarry
A number of current SBA members have stated that they feel that publishing individual groups’ budget allotments would lead to increased infighting within groups. As proof they use a dispute that occurred earlier this year between two student groups over using the same fundraiser within a couple of months of each other. The fact that student groups had a disagreement over this doesn’t inform the conversation about budgets at all. There are no rules and no guidelines about how student groups do fundraisers, even though they are required by the SBA. Two groups had never before tried to do the same fundraiser in the same semester, so the SBA, as an impartial moderator between divergent student group interests had to help shape a result. I participated in a Gavel Club meeting about the issue and the two student groups involved were polite and respectful to each other and mostly wanted to see a solution so the problem wouldn’t come up again. Seems like a far cry from student groups at each others throats. I’m not trying to imply that there weren’t hard feelings between the groups–there may have been, the important thing is that the groups saw the SBA as a fair and impartial actor in the whole process.
I’m sure that if budgets are published there will be some friction about them. If not next year, then the year after or the year after that. But in the end, this is our money. We pay tuition here and we fund the SBA and all of the student groups. I respect B’s insistence on representative democracy, and I agree with him that trusting our representatives is important. But how can we trust them if we don’t see what they’re doing? Currently, the system is set up in a way where student groups and the student body are not treated like adults. This creates antagonism between student groups and the SBA. Student groups are frustrated that they get half information from the SBA while they see the SBA fund large bar tabs for end of the semester parties. Why couldn’t that money be given to HLSA (for example)to do another academic panel instead of to providing free alcohol to some students?
If the SBA is making individualized decisions (which I have no doubt they do), then it should not be hard to explain why group A received $2000 and group B received $800. If Group B comes to appeal with the argument that they are the same size as Group A, the SBA can simply tell Group B what the other factors were that determined their decision (for example, Group A puts on a prominent conference every year that brings the school good press). A proposal like this requires maturity from all parties. It is also important for student groups to remember that there is an ad hoc fund available for groups that over spend. Any group who doesn’t like their allocation can always spend and request ad hoc funding. Knowing this should take the sting out of any perceived disappointment in the budgeting process.
“Student groups are frustrated that they get half information from the SBA while they see the SBA fund large bar tabs for end of the semester parties. Why couldn’t that money be given to HLSA (for example) to do another academic panel instead of to providing free alcohol to some students?”
Because virtually no one goes to panels, while more students show up to the bar. Know your audience.
P.S. Kenny, the fact that you have a “campaign staff” and refer to them as such is so pretentious. And they are highly unhelpful because, Matt, your comments just emphasize the pompous idea that the SBA is somehow reacting to KENNY and not the ideas that were ALREADY being discussed in the Technology Committee and in the SBA office in general.
Next thing you know, Kenny will be saying he invented the internets…
Hi All,
We appreciate the input and the comments, but we need a serious reduction in the snark and tension if this exchange is to continue on the blog.
As Andrew said yesterday, we’re not here to facilitate a proxy war between the supporters of different candidates. We would like a respectful discussion that sticks to the issues and avoids disparaging comments about candidates or their campaign tactics.
As a rule of thumb, please be wary of saying something about a person that you wouldn’t say to his or her face.
Thanks.
Rhetoric,
Disagree with Kenny as you will, but shame on you for attacking Matt McGarry and everyone helping out on Kenny’s campaign.
Even though Matt (any myself) have different ideas than you, at least we have the decency to use real names in our posts and not hide behind a moniker. If you are going to criticize people who aren’t even running, you should at least have the spine to take responsibility for your words.
I appreciate and agree with much of what Navah wrote. My opposition to releasing specific group funding numbers is not because I fear the SBA won’t have a good response — but just that it won’t be accepted. I agree with Liz’s concern that “groups would fight and the Senate and/or Gavel Club would be turned into judicial bodies unable to do anything but mediate appeals and inter-group fighting.”
I should say as full disclosure that I’m not affiliated with Liz or Navah or anyone else. They both have really good ideas (as do the other candidates). I have enjoyed getting to read them and knowing more about what people want. The feedback, dialogue, and landscape of ideas is more substantial than I have seen all year.
I used the example of the fundraising conflict issue as one of many instances that caused me to lose faith in the system here. There have been many others and I didn’t mean to single them out for treatment.
A more neutral statement would’ve been that I think most of us lack perspective in the precise way that is required to handing funding. Because of that, it is in our nature to instinctively disagree with the decisions that are made, almost regardless of, or at least without healthy deferral to, the rationales given. Having also observed the somewhat antagonistic nature of students, student groups, and the SBA that is perhaps in the DNA of law students, my belief is that this disagreement is best had in a representative, controlled, limited capacity that has a light at the end of the tunnel than on the public stage.
In additional to the concern about students and groups accepting SBA decisions, I am concerned about the institutional capacity of the SBA to deal with disagreement. If we have spent more than three meetings discussing the fundraising conflict issue, when in the world will the rest of this be handled? As I wrote earlier, I think this grinds to a halt, which isn’t in anyone’s interest. This is the second reason I would prefer representative discussion on this one sole issue.
In terms of assuring students that there money is spent wisely, I think a high level chart showing funding categories (student groups vs. ad hoc vs. SBA activities, or food & alcohol vs. not, etc) combined with absolute full disclosure to individual student groups on the reasons behind their budget is sufficient on the part of the SBA.
To the extent that student groups are more interested in each other’s situations, I suggest a specific dialogue between them, after the leaderships of those specific groups is comfortable with the exchange of that data. If student groups are truly interested in sharing each other’s budgetary information, there is nothing stopping them at this very moment.
Sick of the Rhetoric,
I thank you for your input and for expressing your concerns about my candidacy. I will leave a few notes here in the hopes of gaining your vote or at least alleviating some of your concerns.
The president of the SBA sets the policy agenda of the SBA but relies on the work of the Executive Board and the Senate to implement that vision. The Vice President of Finance is in charge of keeping the all financial records, tracking all appropriations and expenditures, and making sure all money that is distributed to the SBA from the SA is accounted for. The director of outreach is responsible for contacts with the ABA and fostering relationships with other SBAs. The director of programming organizes the various social events each year so that events like Dean’s Jeans Day and the Barrister’s Ball are successful. The Vice President of Student Affairs deals with the everyday concerns of the student body and addresses facility and other issues with the Deans. The Vice President of First Year Students is responsible for relations for the first year class and may serve as a surrogate president type role over the summer if the president is working in another city. And finally, the Chief of Staff is the officer that is the check on the president and should be honest in objective in evaluating policy initiatives. Next year with appropriate approval, I will create a Vice President of Technology to create a new and dynamic website.
The Senate passes resolutions that the President presents to the Deans when asking for programs or policy changes. Their work speaks for the student body as a request moves through the chain of authority for ultimate approval and implementation.
The President is also entrusted with the responsibility of appointing people to crucial posts in relation to the students and Deans. This job cannot be taken lightly.
The President is the voice of the student body in business with the Deans and must be both strong and cooperative. The president must understand that in order to present a proposal to the administration there must be a coherent student position as expressed through the Senate. The President must understand that not all policy initiatives will ultimately succeed and that sometimes maintaining a working relationship with those who hold ultimate authority is more important than any individual initiative.
The judicial branch resolves conflicts between the branches of government and interprets constitutional provisions, but has not had to act in the last five years.
I cannot pretend that I know everything about the role of President because as you caustically observed, I do not and could not. But neither does Mr. Sorrenti, he too will have a learning curve. Mine may be much stepper but I will bring a new vision and perspective to the job. I will push an ambitious policy agenda, within reason that is, that may not be within the ambit of someone who has been within the SBA and worked according to the status quo for the last few years.
I chose the office of president because I believe that it requires an outsider to breathe some new life and ideas in the SBA. Also, I believe that I will turn the corner on my learning quickly and be able to effectively implement the programs I proposed like a used textbook fair (probably through a web exchange).
If you actually think I am running because I want to gain a resume credential we probably have never spoken. If you have not noticed, I am also running for Senate positions so that if the student body does not entrust me with the position of president, I can still serve them in some capacity. I am probably one of the last people that would consider “padding my resume” or gun for the “big job.” I did not even participate in the journal competition. In fact, I did not even remember to put a couple honors societies of which I am a member on my resume until my girlfriend reminded me because I do find these credentials particularly important to who am I or what I do. I think if you spoke me or people who know me, you would find that I am an affable, humble midwesterner.
As I mentioned in the candidates forum, I did not run for the SBA my 1L year because I was accepted extremely late and did not even have time to find housing. I lived with my grandmother for a year and had a 3 hour commute (round trip) everyday. As a result, I did not have the opportunity to partake in the social events necessary to developing the friendships required to be elected in what is mostly a popularity contest on the 1L level. My 1L year was the first year that I was not involved in public service in some capacity since I was 18 years old (I am almost 28 now). I did not do the high profile volunteer work that attracts the “public service spotlight.” In college and after, I tutored college students in a program designed for first generation college students who were woefully behind in mathematics. I was also a political volunteer at the lowest level, the field canvasser, for three election cycles. I did not run for the SBA my second year because I knew that I would commit my first semester to campaign work that would preclude a meaningful investment in student government. I invested upwards of 30 hours a week in election work last semester, an investment that would not allow me to serve the student body effectively. Because I never commit to responsibilities that I cannot fulfill, I decided not to run for student government.
I have an excellent rapport with the faculty members that have taught me because I conduct myself in a mature and respectful manner. I see no reason why this would be any different with the Deans. In fact, I had several meetings with the Deans my first year and all those meetings were healthy and productive.
Lastly, I take my responsibilities very seriously. You can ask any one of the Westlaw Student Representatives with whom I work, or the first year students whom I have helped with research about my commitment to my job. One of the reasons that I took that job is because I wanted to help the first year class learn to conduct efficient and effective research, a skill that I found difficult to learn my first year. I enjoy serving the public and helping people. It is why I am applying for a Dean’s Fellow position. It is why I have been involved in public service since I was 18 years old and it is why I want to be your SBA president. Am I the most experienced? No. But I do have the best policy platform of the three candidates and the best temperament for the office of the presidency. You can trust that I will conduct myself in a professional and executive manner at all times. You can trust me to tirelessly represent the best interests of the student body as a whole. And, if elected, you can trust me to live up to my rhetoric and take the awesome responsibility of the office of Presidency with the utmost respect and seriousness.
Again, thank you for you input and holding our feet to the fire so to speak. It will only improve what has been a healthy campaign week.
All the Best,
DAVID MITCHELL
B,
Thanks for your honest and thoughtful posts.
Just one comment. I wouldn’t say the push for openness is because “student groups are more interested in each other’s situations.” At least from my perspective, I think the desire is for budget transparency in general, which happens to include student groups. I wouldn’t ask the SBA to be open about its budget while at the same time asking that my student group budget be kept private.
I would also add, that I am not convinced that an open budget would cause more friction then there currently is from uninformed speculation and rumors. I think the SBA is probably doing a great job of managing our student budget and would most likely be well served by greater transparency.
Greg
There was a crucial word missing in this sentence
“In fact, I did not even remember to put a couple honors societies of which I am a member on my resume until my girlfriend reminded me because I do find these credentials particularly important to who am I or what I do.”
This sentence should read
“In fact, I did not even remember to put a couple honors societies of which I am a member on my resume until my girlfriend reminded me because I do not find these credentials particularly important to who am I or what I do.”
People, People! Let’s put this anonymous bickering and anger and direct it towards something more fruitful.
Laughter.
See ya’ll at the Law Revue Show tomorrow!
And then back to the Election!
In general, I agree with “Sick of the Rhetoric,” though maybe not with the extremity…David, while I commend you for your candor, your responses to questions about your experience during the town hall and on this forum have not been reassuring.
The fact that you decided not to participate in student government as a 1L is understandable, as you were accepted late. But you decided to do campaign work in your 2L year that you felt would be more meaningful, which is fantastic – and while it tells me that you feel passionately about political work, it also tells me as a voter that you would have rather worked outside of school than work in the SBA. Which, again, is fine – but there are other candidates, not just those for President, that have invested time into the SBA, have the experience and know-how, and a strong platform for office. They have worked the job for years because they have wanted it for years and made it a priority.
Additionally, you just said that you’ve applied to be a Dean’s Fellow next year, a position that is an incredible amount of work and a huge commitment of time – three classes to attend, one to lesson plan for, at least 12-15 briefs to correct/edit which have deadlines that nearly always coincide with major SBA events, and students who email you day and night. Part of the reason that Brett and Bryan were so successful as presidents was because they had the time to invest in the position – they cleared their schedules so that they could be on-call. If you plan on being a Dean’s Fellow and SBA President, I think you have a serious misconception about the amount of time each requires.
While John will have a learning curve (sorry to drag you in here, I think it’s great that you’ve stepped back and let people comment freely), even you David, have admitted, it’s not that steep at all. He has also had the experience of two years in the SBA to work with virtually all the positions, know the requirements, and the everyday stresses and struggles of being an Executive Board member or member of the Senate.
I haven’t met you, but I think it’s great that you’re also running for Senator because you still want to serve the student body, and you may do that job very effectively with that kind of passion. However, for the job of President, to lead a student government that, as “Sick of the Rhetoric” pointed out, has the largest SBA budget in the country, I would rather trust my vote to someone with experience to do the job, rather than just the proposed vision to change it.
And another thing: I commend Liz for having the courage to go against the grain and say what she thinks, based on her experience with both student groups and the Senate Finance Committee. It’s good to know that someone won’t just tell law students what they want to hear while concealing their personal views, or propose sweeping changes in Senate Finance policy without considering that they should consult the leaders of ALL student groups, senators themselves, and members of the general student body.
And, as pointed out, if someone actually talked to their section rep or encouraged them to draft transparency legislation and put it before the Senate, this could have been addressed a lot sooner.
Katie,
Thank you for you input. I hope to have your support for a senator position. During a meeting that I had yesterday with Brett Sheats I asked whether I should withdraw my application for Dean’s Fellow if I am elected to the office of President and he told me that both jobs could be done effectively provide that those were my only two time commitments beyond class. Thank you for your concern.
All the Best,
DAVID
Matt McGarry,
Please don’t take credit for the facilities posters. I have advertised the facilities email on Sua Sponte multiple times, in the Nota Bene, in several emails Brett has sent and it is on the home page of the SBA web page. I put the posters up so that Kenny would stop offensively suggesting the creation of a job that I have been doing all year.
Liz
Liz,
As I have repeatedly said, I am not taking credit, nor asking for the creation of, a job you have been doing all year. Matt McGarry did not say I was calling for the creation of this position, he stated that it needed to be more publicized. When I made mention that a few 1Ls had approached me and suggested that a website be formed, they, and I, genuinely thought that one did not exist. After you informed me that one did exist, I have been taking the steps to correct anyone who suggests it to me and I refer them to the SBA website and the GW Facilities e-mail that you answer.
My message is simply that the general student body did not know of this, it needs to be communicated and a restructuring or re-marketing of this resource needs to be taken into consideration.
The fact is that many students did not know that the SBA website had a facilities request function. I brought this up during the town hall and the next day you put up flyers advertising it. This is not me taking credit. It is the type of proactive response we need. Something is brought to our attention and we responded. In my mind, it was a great display of teamwork and proper credit went to each person who deserved it, the 1Ls for bringing it to our attention and you for taking action.
Please visit my blog for more updates: votekenny.blogspot.com
Kenny
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