[2626] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
[Mit-talk] Student Group Property Ownership
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Katherine Sniffen)
Tue Oct 17 11:11:02 2006
From: Katherine Sniffen <katallen@alum.mit.edu>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:09:52 -0400
In-Reply-To: <mailman.31085.1161096114.14741.mit-talk@mit.edu>
(mit-talk-request@mit.edu's message of "Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:41:54
-0400")
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
> Alex brings up good points. It's really about accountability. I was
> never on finboard, but anecdotally, I can say there is misuse of
> funds. Groups buy the same things year in and year out, and it's a
> waste of money. Also, inventory "disappears". It might be a pain,
> but the UA should have better records of group spending and inventory
> because ultimately, it's the UA who purchases it.
It is not ultimately the UA who purchase *anything*. The UA and GSC,
through the body of the ASA Finboard, _distribute_ money to buy
things.
Some of these things are transient, like party funding or posters.
Some of these things are permanent---costumes, cooking equipment,
books, DVDs. All the Finboard money comes from undergraduate and graduate students,
but it does not belong to the UA.
That point aside, it might be smart of the ASA to require that every
student group have a "will"---designations for where their materiel
goes if their group ceases to exist.
MITSFS, for example, has thousands of books, some of which were bought
with Finboard money, but most of which came from donations directly to
the Library. We already have an arrangement with the MIT Libraries
for them to take all our books in the case that, someday,
MITSFS should cease to exist. Finding logical inheritors for other
groups might be harder, but it would be reasonable to make the default
inheritor be the ASA. It is important, however, that the ASA not be
able to invalidate arrangements like MITSFS'.
It is also important that the ASA not be able to arbitrarily take away
equipment from one group to give to another. It might be more clever
for the ASA to set up a way for student groups to keep track of things
they have that they may be willing to loan, such that groups who need
something know who to ask. It could also provide some assurance that
loans will not become lost property, if the ASA can help recover
things kept longer than expected.
I think between an arrangement for the property of defunct groups and
a system to encourage loans between groups, you could eliminate most
of the concerns of the UA, without making student groups feel that
their property was threatened.
-Katherine Sniffen
katallen@alum.mit.edu
_______________________________________________
MIT-talk mailing list
MIT-talk@mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/mit-talk
