The future of Sub-Board I, Inc., is in question after its board of directors meeting Wednesday, in which doubts were raised on whether the Student Association would continue its participation in the organization.
According to Lars Hansen, current president of SBI, after the officers for the 2003-04 school year were chosen, members of the 2003-04 SA e-board discussed pulling SA funding from Sub-Board, the corporation that controls student services such as the Michael Hall pharmacy, student medical insurance, Health Education and Human Services, and group legal services.
Currently, undergraduate students contribute roughly $600,000 to SBI through an SA allocation and retain six seats of its 14-member board of directors. Representatives from the six other governments control the remaining eight seats.
SA president-elect George Pape said nothing has been decided yet, but SA is closely inspecting SA's relationship to the corporation.
"Given the current fiscal obligation of the Student Association to Sub-Board I, we find them unacceptable," said Pape.
Hansen said he understands the concerns of the future e-board, since SA contributes about 80 percent of SBI funds while only holding 46 percent of the board's seats.
"They don't have as much control over their money as other governments do," said Hansen.
The move comes after the e-board election Monday night, in which SA's candidate for vice president, Joshua Korman, a current law student and former SA vice president, lost the election for the position.
Traditionally, Hansen said, the members belonging to the graduate and professional schools vote together and the six members of SA vote together, thus leaving SA unable to reach a majority.
But, according to Hansen and Korman, it is typical for the board members to decide the ways they will vote and make deals prior to the election, to secure positions on the executive board, which holds most of the clout in the corporation.
"The board is kind of like a joke in terms of making sure of checks and balances," Hansen said. "A lot of power lies in the officers."
Hansen said he thinks one of these previous arrangements had not been honored Monday night, resulting in Korman's loss.
Joe Mure, from the School of Medicine, secured the position of vice president. Vinay Bendre, current president of the Graduate Student Association, ran unopposed for the position of SBI president.
Ariel Arroyo, current finance director of Sub-Board, was the only undergraduate student to win a position. In addition, Hansen said, the results of the treasurer election could be contested at a later date because of an alleged error in the voting procedure. At that announcement, Hansen said, Pape became noticeably agitated.
"George was understandably pretty upset, because there had been an arrangement worked out and (other student governments) backed out of it," said Hansen.
Pape left the meeting, but returned later with vice president-elect Jocelyn Tejeda and treasurer-elect Anthony Burgio, to announce their consideration of removing SA from Sub-Board.
"I think George is a little bit mad because he got outmaneuvered," said John Menard, current SBI board member, who said the controversy was merely "hot air."
Korman, however, said SA's decision to pull out - while not yet official - might as well be.
"Oh, they're going to do it," Korman said. "They're doing it."
Can Sub-Board survive without the Student Association?
"No - well, yes," said Bill Hooley, executive director of Sub-Board I. "In a much smaller, modified way, but that would be for the board to decide."
According to Hansen, if SA pulls out of SBI, student services will be compromised indefinitely.
"Here's the catch: If Sub-Board closes, stuff like the medical insurance and pharmacy will get taken over by the university, and the university can charge whatever they want," he said.
Pape, however, said services would not be cut in the instance that SA was to pull out of the contract.
"The only thing that SA wants is to make sure that its students are fairly represented," Pape said. "And that's all."
"I will tell you right now, as far as undergraduates, it's my guarantee to them that there will be no drop in services, only, only improvement," he added. "I guarantee that."
Pape, a former president of SBI and former president of the Faculty Student Association, said he has the knowledge needed to improve student services.
Hansen, however, said the possible withdrawal is an SA tactic to retain more seats on the board of directors, something he said the student government has been seeking for years.
"It looks like what they are doing is trying to scare us into changing the bylaws," said Hansen. "... It looks like this was just a way of speeding the process up."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
