???Recently, The Spectrum has been in the throes of conflict with your student government. The Student Association (SA) believes that by turning over a fraction of this newspaper's budget, it's entitled to half of the board seats on the publication's board of directors - without which, they're unwilling to pass on the subscription fee.
???The conflict has taken up the time of Spectrum leadership, and has forced the publication to seek legal counsel, as well as consume the time and resources of numerous programs and members of the UB community willing to mediate the situation. All of this has been done in the name of protecting your student dollar.
???But is that extra buck packed onto the Student Mandatory Activity Fee each semester really being looked after?
???Let's look at the facts.
???The fee was raised this year, only so the student government can continue providing the same amount of services. John Martin, SA's treasurer, cited the poor economy and the state budget crisis, in particular, for the need to raise the rate. Skyrocketing gas prices were also named and blamed-and gas prices are now coming back down. Way to predict that one, John.
???Yet with cuts here and there, SA still continues to spend extravagantly, having your student dollar pay for everything from staff parties to their cell phone services (check out Martin and Grollitsch's iPhones).
???This makes it tough to forget the reign of Viqar Hussain. The former SA president went wild on spending, purchasing everything from extravagant spring break "research" (right) rental cars and brand new SA-branded attire for all employees.
???How about some work without the perk, please?
???Absolutely no improper spending is on record in The Spectrum's Board of Directors' meeting minutes, or elsewhere in the publication's financial records - a fact that many independent organizations cannot claim. I personally invite any student or other member of the community to stop down at 132 Student Union and check out The Spectrum's financial reports for yourself.
???But The Spectrum is supposed to trust an organization with a questionable record with half of the seats on its Board of Directors. What happens when these people try and tweak editorial content using their over-sprawling fiscal power as gunpowder?
???After all, content is what they're mad about in the first place.
???Check out the lead story of Issue 13 of The Spectrum, printed on Sept. 26 of this year, if you don't believe me. Their demands towards this paper, as well as some unfounded claims of fiscal capriciousness on the part of The Spectrum, started the very same day as "SA fails to clarify voting 'gray area,'" was published.
???The Spectrum, love it or hate it, is important to every single student on campus because of that Mandatory Student Activity Fee. The paper serves as a check on what people with power do with your money so your student dollar isn't spent on vacations, vacation rental cars, spankin' new attire and the like.
???Although this publication's accommodations don't even include a single window in the entire office, the editorial board of this paper can see one thing clearly: this is not in the best interests of the paper, or for the students.
???After all, a 1993 court case ended in a judge ruling that the money isn't SA's, but that the student government is an intermediary for the funds. A subsequent 2004 ruling found that SA couldn't take the funds from the paper without the students voting on it.
???And though no vote was held after representatives cited numerous SUNY Board of Trustees guidelines prohibiting one, one legal fact remains: nothing has ever been so legally convenient for one party. The Spectrum has been advised that no vote doesn't mean no money - you can't change the rules of the game at halftime.
???SA is nervous about The Spectrum's spending - but even more nervous about what we might print about them. Hmm... I wonder why.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
