This is the first of a multi-part series exploring the Student Association's use of the Mandatory Student Activity Fee, what the money goes toward and whom it benefits.
One of the perks of being a Student Association club is access to SA's fleet of vans, which clubs can use to transport members or materials to various activities - something club members and SA officials say is a tremendous benefit.
However, loose record keeping of the vans, including hundreds of miles unaccounted for and foggy rules regarding usage have called their van practices into question.
The Student Association purchased six 2002 Dodge Caravans in June of 2002, which cost a total of $97,200, according to SA officials.
Since May, the fleet has racked up a total of 81,527 miles and used hundreds of dollars in gas money, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity Fee, the $69.75 fee paid by all full-time undergraduates.
SA President George Pape said the vans are a necessity for a lot of clubs and many could not operate without them.
"Let's face it," Pape said. "A lot of people who attend the University at Buffalo don't have cars."
The two vans that were allotted to the ski club, one of the clubs that uses the vans frequently, pounded the pavement for a total of 8,074 miles since Jan. 12, according to SA van records.
"We definitely need the vans, and we definitely use them," said Greg Rhoads, president of the ski club. "We're really grateful for them. It actually would be nice if they had more."
Rhoads said the club traveled to Kissing Bridge, in Glenwood, N.Y., twice a week, to Holiday Valley, in Ellicottville, N.Y., once a week, and went to six tournaments around New York and Pennsylvania this season, including a regional tournament.
To use a van, at least one member of a recognized club over the age of 20 has to be van tested by Joe Borgese, the assistant club services director, who coordinates the van use. Borgese said the process is similar to a DMV road test.
Clubs looking to use the vans for an event or trip must fill out a request form and submit documentation of the event to Borgese.
All mileage on the vans is then documented in a log, kept in the SA office. Club members enter the starting and returning mileage of each van for each use. Borgese said SA tries to accommodate everyone, though the weekend spots fill up fast.
"Really the only reason for denial is that the vans are taken," he said.
The rules are slightly less concrete about the time restrictions on van use.
"There's really no restriction on the terms of how long - usually no more than a week," he said.
Each recognized club gets a weekend to use two vans; for each additional trip, most clubs must pay $25, according to Borgese. Some clubs, however, get to keep the vans for longer without paying.
Borgese said the ski club relies on the vans to get to practices and tournaments in Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley. Clubs with a large number of members, such as the Black Student Union, do not have to pay either.
In a six-week season, the ski club takes the vans out no fewer than 24 times, which would be about $600 for one van alone. For their season, the ski club uses two of the Caravans and one of the older model SA cargo vans.
"It would drain their budget," he said. "We want to be fair."
The ski club's starting budget this year was $3,750, which is used to pay for tournaments, hotels and lodging, and gas for the vehicles. Rhoads said often the members pay out of pocket for the gas to get them to tournaments. He even took the van in for an oil change during the time the club had the van.
Rhoads said the club travels to Holiday Valley once a week, Kissing Bridge twice a week, and takes a trip to a tournament - usually about 220 miles away - six times per season.
The mileage from these trips leaves about 1,000 miles unaccounted for.
Rhoads said the club often stays up to 30 miles away from a tournament, and one tournament was held in Pennsylvania, a trip he said was "about 1,000 miles each way."
An over two-week surveillance of the vans registered to the ski club by The Spectrum saw the vehicles - which were parked in the South Lake parking lot - change parking spaces about once a day. Rhoads said the vans were moved during the daytime to drop off and pick up equipment for ski team use.
More Discrepancies
Though most of the records were properly documented, thousands of miles are unaccounted for in the SA van logs.
For example, the log reads that the Asian American Student Association took a van out to go to Game Zone, located on Sheridan Drive, about three miles away from campus. According to the log, the van accumulated 97 miles on the trip.
In several cases, the ending mileage on many trips does not match to the starting mileage on the next trip. For example, the end mileage on one trip ended at 15,930 miles. The next trip entry logs the same van's starting mileage at 16,774, a discrepancy of 844 miles.
"I don't know," Borgese said, about the leap in mileage. "I don't know what this is all about."
Borgese attributes the mileage differences to simple human error. He said he tries to check the vans each week to update the miles and make sure each van has a full tank of gas.
"The discrepancies are really that people are not recording the mileage right," said Borgese. Many times, he said, students will forget to record the ending mileage for their trip, which will result in adjustments to the log at a later time.
Borgese said that the vans are not allowed for personal use, though the problem has arisen before.
"We actually found someone who did, and we basically froze their budget and made an example of them," he said.
Pape said he has used the vans for personal use - to store his belongings while he moved off campus. He said that he did not use the vans to transport his belongings to the new apartment.
"I have an SUV. Why would I need to use an SA van?" said Pape, adding that previous presidents have, however, used vans to move.
The SA van logs show no record of Pape's use of the vehicle.
