[75] in UA Senate
Re: Meeting this evening - discuss!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Catherine Olsson)
Tue Oct 13 19:58:51 2009
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:58:11 -0400
From: Catherine Olsson <catherio@MIT.EDU>
To: Ted Hilk <thilk@mit.edu>
CC: Adam Bockelie <bockelie@mit.edu>, Paul Baranay <pbaranay@mit.edu>,
Rachel E Meyer <remeyer@mit.edu>, ua-senate@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <6ed15f040910131641p7fe947c5j7e5f8754735a5f03@mail.gmail.com>
Ted Hilk wrote:
>
> 5. The UA operating budget should be approved as it stands. Yes, I am
> concerned that we are spending so much money on PLUS and Athletics
> Weekend, but think that should be a target for future budgets, not the
> current budget. I am glad that there are concrete plans to hand
> off PLUS
> next year, and would like to see this promise held to. Thus I am
> considering authoring a bill requiring the management of PLUS to be
> handed over by next year as promised - is there support among other
> senators?
>
>
> Why delay fixing these issues, and for how long? T-shirts for
> Athletics in particular struck me as quite expensive relative to their
> potential benefit to the student body, and I would like to hear more
> about this. A number of my constituents have already approached me
> about fiscal responsibility, and I feel that more attention should be
> given to the issue.
In terms of PLUS, I don't see it as a delay in fixing the issue. The
handoff is underway. I want to make sure it really happens as we are
promised it will. (Jed's comments just now are reassuring).
In terms of Athletics weekend, I'm suggesting we delay because we need
to analyze the importance of Athletics Weekend, not cut it off as a
knee-jerk reaction or haphazardly try to make a move at tonight's
meeting with no overarching philosophy. The t-shirts are a large part of
what get people to come out to Athletics Weekend - without them, our
funding would be *totally* wasted. But, the question remains, is the
event still worthwhile if we have to provide such strong incentives for
attendance? I think possibly, but I'm not sure. Hence I don't feel
comfortable acting *now*, and would rather discuss the issue of our
spending as a whole at a more leisurely pace.
If someone could provide a well thought-out plan for how to cut
Athletics Weekend funding for this year, and present it at this meeting,
I would consider supporting it, but I haven't seen any, and can't think
of any right now.
- Catherine
