Technique coverage of SGA off the mark
Over the past several weeks, the tone of the Technique has been quite negative in regards to the Student Government Association and the budget process. The methods and logic of the budgetary process were deemed arbitrary, and the leadership of all of SGA was called into question.
Much of the reporting was premature at best and misleading at worst, as the Blueprint was partially funded and no student, including SGA Exec, received a raise in stipends in the final version of the budget. Without wasting time arguing over specifics, the Stipend Committee was created to deal with the fact that SGA had no policy over student stipends, and therefore no way to ensure fairness across the board. Also, the Blueprint, whose continued existence I support, had a business model that was outdated for today’s technology and budgetary constraints.
Truth be told, I could not be more proud in the conduct of the individuals in all parts of SGA in the budget process, who work countless hours to ensure the funds paid for by our fellow students are put to their best use. Everyone operated fairly and professionally in a way that serves the student body well.
What was continuously failed to be pointed out in all the reports is that all of us on SGA were tasked with reconciling almost $5.4 million in an overall budget request with an anticipated income of $4.3 million in order not to increase at least one fee my classmates pay in this recession. This challenge requires us to make tough choices in regards to student life at Tech. I have yet to meet one student outside of the Technique that supports funding the Blueprint more than Sting Break or paying for increased student stipends at the expense of student run clubs.
What is so outrageous about Student Publications requiring students to pay a small fee of less than $35 for a yearbook like all of [us] did in high school or using advertising revenue to supplement SGA paid stipends? Last week, “SGA budget behavior a disgrace to themselves, the student body” co-headlined the Opinions section. I counter that the real disgrace was the Technique’s reporting on the matter, whose myopic and self-centered columns did nothing to educate the student body of what was really happening other than lamenting over the reduction of its own line items in the budget.
Austin Rahn
SGA Vice President of Finance
Fourth-year INTA
Tech should ease the pain of registration
This Saturday (April 11), I signed on to Oscar at 3:30 pm, the time my registration ticket opened. I already had my schedule outlined and was prepared to register. However, when I tried to add my classes, I was shocked to find there was a hold on my registration due to immunizations/shots. Just a few weeks ago, I was able to sign up for my summer classes without a problem, and I had never before had a hold on my registration, so I certainly had not been expecting to have any holds this semester.
I immediately called the Health Center, but being a Saturday afternoon, nobody answered. Unable to do anything else, I spent the rest of the weekend watching the spaces in my classes dwindle away. I woke up two hours earlier on Monday morning so I could immediately call the health center. They quickly realized the hold had been placed in error, and told me I would now be able to register. By this time, there was no longer a single open space is LCC 3401 and ECON 3150 had only one space left.
I understand that there is error inherent in human nature. However, parameters should be in place to diminish the consequences of these errors. At a school as technologically advanced as ours, why is there no system in place to notify students when holds are placed on their records?
Especially when students are expected to register for classes outside of normal office hours (this issue could be a whole other letter in and of itself), a simple, automated email that would alert a student to any holds would allow her to take care of errors in advance. If some notification had been provided even one day in advance, I could have easily taken care of the hold and registered on Saturday.
I hope my suggestion of putting in place an email notification system for students with holds will be considered. I believe many students will appreciate the efforts to ease the pains of registering for classes.
Kristina Kaylen
Third-year IE