In a letter released Tuesday afternoon to The Spectrum and addressed to members of the undergraduate population, this year's and next year's Student Association executive boards addressed the proposed withdrawal from Sub-Board I, Inc.
The letter details the financial allocations SA and other governments give to Sub-Board and how the withdrawal would affect student services at UB.
In an interview, Pape said nothing is final and the incoming e-board has not chosen a binding course of action.
"The only thing that's definite is that we're not going to be giving our activities money," said Pape. "... Unless changes are made, it doesn't look like Sub-Board I will exist at all."
Pape said SA President Christian Oliver had drafted changes over the last few years, but, according to Bill Hooley, executive director of SBI, Oliver never brought these changes in front of the bylaws committee.
"There have been problems arising for many years" and logistical roadblocks prevented SA from withdrawing, Oliver said at a Monday night meeting of the SA Senate.
"It's George's decision," Oliver said. "It's not my decision, but I support it."
Hooley said he hopes Pape will bring his concerns in front of the board, rather than simply pulling all funding from the corporation.
"I'm not saying George is wrong," said Hooley. "He's entitled to have a different mission statement, but he must try to bring those thoughts to the table and share those thoughts with the other governments."
Joshua Korman, a law student and former SA vice president who lost an election for SBI vice president last week, discussed what he believed were better alternatives to SBI during the Senate meeting.
"Sub-Board has been very poorly managed in the five years I have been able to observe it," said Korman. "It has made a lot of poor decisions, and SA has tried to convert the mechanisms within the board because it's a tradition. It didn't work, and it's at the point where negotiations have broke down and this is the only option left to get good services."
Pape said that though he did not poll students about pulling the allocation out of SBI, he plans to poll the incoming SA staff and students enrolled in summer classes about the issue. According to Pape, many of the students who take classes in the summer are international students who use SBI services, such as the pharmacy, frequently.
With all of the undergraduate money going directly to fund services specifically for them and no one else, Pape said, the plan will directly benefit the undergraduates. The final part of a four-page letter Pape wrote to the undergraduate student population, however, stated that "We are committed to doing what we can to ensure that the graduate and professional school students do not needlessly suffer due to the poor decisions of their own elected officials. Accordingly, we will attempt to make our programs and services available to them at no additional cost."
The letter also lists the seven student governments and their respective allocations to SBI. SA, according to the letter, pays $855,700 to Sub-Board; the next highest allocation is $80,000 from the Graduate Student Association. GSA receives the second highest number of seats on the 14-member board of directors; three to SA's six.
Hooley said the $855,700 allocation listed in the letter is inaccurate in that the undergraduates only contribute $495,700 to the corporation. Pape, however, said the $360,000 undergraduates pay to co-sponsor Fall and Spring Fests should count toward the SBI allocations.
"At this point, it's hard to say if it's the right thing to do or not because we haven't really been able to talk with Sub-Board and its current management," said Oliver, at the Senate meeting. "Right now there are some fatal flaws in the organization and our relationship with them. As undergraduate students, it's impossible to ensure that undergraduate needs are met with a bloc of graduate professionals holding eight out of 14 spots."
- Additional reporting by Greg Fischman
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
