Dear Editor,
I’m writing to you in response to Mike Arch’s recent “article”: The Deep End: SGA’s deep pockets. Please convey the following message to Mike. What some see as money thrown around, others see as money well spent on student life. It is the SGA’s job not to be strict fiscal watchdogs of funds for events, but rather to facilitate events on campus with the help of funding. The first example you use to prove SGA’s wasteful behavior ($3000 for a welcome back party) refers to an event that was poorly planned and executed by a completely different executive board of SGA. Furthermore, using examples of money mismanagement that date back four years ($20,000 for SGA Party in 2004) has very little merit and absolutely no significance on the current SGA and its members.
In response to ISA’s Diwali event – yes, you’re right, the requested amount to fund the event was $10,000. However, I’m very alarmed at how erroneous your “article” was. Firstly, you were wrong in stating that students’ tuition money is going into events such as this. The truth is that event funding is derived from the student activity fee that students pay, NOT tuition. Secondly, even if ISA actually sold 100 NEIU tickets, and 300 non-NEIU tickets, you should have come up with the following numbers: $400 for SGA, $1200 for Charity, $1900 for ISA. You stated the Charity received $1600. However, since you just pulled the 100/300 split out of the air, your numbers paint a very different picture than what is the truth. The truth is, we sold 368 tickets, 166 which were for NEIU students, and 202 which were for non-NEIU students. 32 tickets were complimentary for our sponsors and members of the media such as yourself. So in reality, $368 went to SGA, $1104 went to charity, and $1069 went to ISA. So not only did ISA make over $800 less than your uneducated projection, we also made less money than the charity we were trying to help.
Lastly, it should be known that you presented your readers with more opinion, and less facts. Additionally, you provided a very narrow viewpoint because you failed to consider several positive aspects of the Diwali event and ISA. For instance, you never reported on the event is a very popular and high visibility event in the general Indian community, and how it puts NEIU on the map among high schoolers, students from other universities, and parents who may now consider NEIU as an option for their child because it has a strong Indian presence. Also, you glaze over the fact that we are donating to charity as if it’s something of little importance. Ask yourself, how many other organizations organize social events that emphasize giving back to the community or a charity? Also, you didn’t seem to do the math on the cost per head of the event (cost divided by number of people in attendance). If you divide $9000 by 400, the cost per head is $22.50.
Compare this to events that cost $3000-$5000 but reach only 30-50 people ($100 per head). Anyway, I think I’ve said enough about the matter, and I don’t want to beat it to death any more than I have. I understand that the Independent is always trying to increase readership on campus, so I can see how articles such as yours would help achieve that goal. I haven’t read very many articles of yours, but if shoddy reporting such as this is your forte, then you’ll fit right in with the mainstream media. But if fiscal matters pertaining to students are important, I would like to invite you and any reader of the independent to join SGA and help cure SGA of its “plague.”
-Sunil Mahadeshwar (ISA President, SGA Treasurer)