No One Has a Private Pot of Money

So, apparently, the University President down in Florida doesn’t even seem to grasp the notion of Student Government and the Activities & Service Fees. At least he gave that impression when he referred to the $16 million student budget as UF Student Body President “Ryan Moseley’s private pot”.

And the Accent Chairman apparently thinks his agency’s budget is a “private pot” too, as he’s trying to resist legislative oversight.

Why does power corrupt? And why does multi-million dollar power corrupt ever more so?

Fact is, no one has a private pot of money. If some inventive SG activist wanted to, he could put an initiative on the ballot to totally disband SG and return the $10+/credit-hour fees to the students. Or less radically, they could propose a fee cut in return for being more efficient with student money (such as no more bail-outs for SG agencies or FBK’s Gator Growl).

Such a “cash back for students” idea isn’t entirely new, and might even be a mistake to actually implement. But the truth is, no one in SG should think of the budget as their own slush fund. And no responsible adult in the UF Administration should be encouraging such notions.

Bernie Machen and Steven Blank should be ashamed for uttering such irresponsibility in public.