Students look to USG for more university financial transparency

Posted on by

Undergraduate Student Government addressed St. Thomas’ lack of availability of financial information to its students Sunday night at its meeting.     logo_USGupdate

Students appealed to USG for greater accountability on the part of the administration to the students.

“I think USG should be a leader in terms of making these programs more public so students can get more involved, and so they don’t freak out about these numbers on their tuition statements,” junior Anthony Guidotti said.

Guidotti represented the student initiative for transparency. The initiative seeks more openness regarding university finances.

[slidepress gallery=’111023_usg_interview’]

Junior Anthony Guidotti discusses his stance on the university’s fiancial transparency. (Cynthia Johnson/TommieMedia)

USG Finance Committee Vice President Quentin Abraham said, “I think it is awesome you’ve taken the initiative to increase transparency. I think it’s an honorable goal.”

Students look to eliminate plastic water bottles

Sophomore Josh Zahrbock from Students for Justice and Peace requested a $1,500 budget approval, which would allow for 500 reusable water bottles.

Zahrbock also wanted additional refill stations for water bottles like those found in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.

“Eventually I would like to move towards a ban, which has happened at Macalester and St. Ben’s, to completely eliminate plastic water bottles,” Zahrbock said.

USG approved the campus sustainability measure to curb the use of plastic bottles on campus by Food Services.

“Basically what we are doing is we are throwing USG’s weight behind this initiative to increase the awareness surrounding this issue,” Vice President Mike Orth said.

USG approved two new clubs and resolutions Sunday at its meeting.

Taekwondo Club and Friends of the Orphans Club were approved by the council.

Orth said he liked heightened participation at the meeting but expressed concern about members not speaking their minds.

“Sometimes we don’t get a lot of discussion on some of the issues we talk about, and it ends up that people just vote yes and sometimes we get that too much,” Orth said.

Patrick Roche can be reached at roch6667@stthomas.edu.