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I'm back.

So I previously said that I was done blogging. But this is just too good not to mention. One of President MacCracken's final acts was to veto Senator Dalton's bill, which would have prevented students from serving in both the executive branch and the Senate at the same time. There will be a special session on Sunday to attempt to override his veto.

The End's Not Near, It's Here

Bonus points to anybody that knows which TV show's last episode has the same title as this post. Don't Google it, that's cheating.

Anyways, the new executives were sworn in yesterday, and the new administration is officially underway. And I am graduating in approximately 12 days and 16 hours, so I guess that it is time to say goodbye.

I've had a lot of fun sharing my opinion with you over the course of the last year. Thank you so much for reading and sharing your opinion, even though I know that many of us disagree on many things. Thank yous are also due to those of you in the SG that were willing to talk to me, even though I am clearly not a legitimate member of the media. I wish Nate, Maia, Kent, Ed, and everyone else willing to take up the SG cause nothing but the best of luck next year.

I will conclude with the two pieces of advice that I have been trying to impress upon people ever since I started paying attention:

SG: Stop taking yourselves so seriously.

Students: It's about time that you start giving a shit.

That's all, folks. Good luck to all of you. Goodbye.

End of Year SG Grades

The Eagle used to give out letter grades to all of the executives and the Senate at the end of the school year to assess their performance. This year, they took the easy road and simply wrote an editorial, without letter grades. I can't say that I blame them. Grading something like this is pretty subjective, and completely arbitrary. But my blog has no problem being subjective or arbitrary, so here I go:

President Andy MacCracken: B+
If I had been President, there are some things that I would have done differently. But overall, Andy did a pretty good job. As The Eagle noted, he took student input very seriously, even when not much input was offered. His opposition to the Super Loop is evidence of that. He also took a very positive step toward getting a student Metro discount with the AU ID-Smartrip thing. However, he is still missing a defining accomplishment. He was never able to find the one issue that truly resonates with people and make it his own. That said, the one thing that I have learned in everything that I have been involved in is that it is nearly impossible to make big changes in one year. That would have been the best argument for Andy being re-elected had he decided to run again. Nate Bronstein (Andy's hand-picked successor) will have a unique opportunity to carry the MacCracken momentum forward.

Vice President Alex Prescott: C
Not having a Founder's Day Ball is what he will always be remembered for. But I am not going to give him an F, because not all of the blame can be placed upon him for that fiasco. And, as The Eagle also noted, most students were happy with KPU and SUB this year, which fall under his leadership.

Former Comptroller Matt Handverger: B-
The only thing he ever did wrong was misreport his hours on his timesheet. That is not ok, but it is also not the end of the world.

Comptroller Alan Chang: A
He's a Comptroller and he didn't fuck anything up. What more can you ask for?

Secretary Colin Meiselman
Since I used to work for him, I will maintain some journalistic integrity and refrain from giving him a grade. I will say that he didn't really do anything spectacular (except for the AUSG recruiter, which I still think is awesome), but his goal of streamlining communications is an admirable one, and something that I think incoming Secretary Hiebel can make work. But I still don't like the website.

The Undergraduate Senate: F
Sorry guys. First of all, let me say that of all the grades, this one is the most arbitrary and subjective. Over the last year, we have had two Senates, four Speakers, and countless different members. Assigning a grade to such a diverse group is pretty much a complete waste of time, but that's what I do. The bottom line is this: the only time anybody payed attention to the Senate was when they were doing something that was ultimately pointless (impeachment, election certification, budget). At no point did they ever unite behind an issue that actually mattered to students. Certainly there are many, many individual Senators that do great work on behalf of the students. I recognize that. But as a body, it is dysfunctional, and does not serve a sound purpose. Way too much time is spent on amending the bylaws and "debating how to debate" (credit: Seth Rosenstein). Not enough time was spent on the countless issues that make an impact on the lives of students. My advice (not that you asked for it): Quit taking yourselves so seriously (you are in fucking college you don't need to where a suit all of the time!), figure out a way to make the rules so that they don't need to be changed every week, and continue having the same heated, passionate debates that you always do, but focus on issues that we give a shit about.

Giving credit where credit is due

I criticize the SG often, but I feel that I am also pretty willing to acknowledge when they do something right. And man, those cupcakes in the Tavern tonight were good. And smoothies, too? I'll take that over a Founder's Day Ball any day of the week.

Coming later tomorrow: I will be giving year end grades to each of the executives, and the Senate. Be sure to check it out.

The Eagle listened

Last week, The Eagle ignored the SG. Today, they have a front page story about the passing of the budget. I can't help but take the credit for their sudden shift in priorities.

The budget is passed!

Finally, debate has been closed, and the budget has been approved by a vote of 21-3. Women's Initiative will be allocated $22,000 next year. I'll post the final budget, and how it compares to last year's, later. That was fun. Except not really. What a shitshow.

Another bump to the WI budget

The Cruz Amendment passes by vote of 11-10-3, and the budget for Women's Initiative now sits at $22,000. An amendment is now before the body to increase the KPU budget.

Habash Amendment fails

Women's Initiative's budget still sits at $21,500. Dalton then attempts to close debate once again, and his motion fails. Thus, we continue.

Senator Cruz has now introduced an amendment to, among other things, direct another $500 to Women's Initiative.

Another effort to increase WI budget fails

An amendment to increase the WI budget back to $23,000 (and move a bunch of other money all over the place) has failed. Senator Dalton leaned back and whispered to me that he thought it was "the worst amendment ever."

He then attempted to close debate on the budget. Interestingly, it takes a 2/3 majority to close debate, making the Undergraduate Senate officially as inefficient as the United States Senate.

The motion to close debate fails by a vote of 10-11. And so we continue...

Another effort is now being made to increase funding for WI, taking money from KPU and Founder's Day.

UPDATE: The amendment passes, taking WI's funding up to $21,500. Dalton then attempts to close debate, and fails. Nirvana Habash has now introduced an amendment to take $1,000 from the Class of 2011 and give it to Women's Initiative.

The Amending Process

An amendment has passed to increase the budget for WI back to $23,000, which is the same amount that they received last year.

Senator Dalton has now introduced an amendment to take it back down to $20,000, reallocating the extra money to KPU and SUB. The amendment is being debated now. Several Senators call it a "happy medium." Others say that WI needs the money, and we don't need to cut their funding in order to give more to KPU and SUB.

UPDATE: Dalton's amendment passes by a vote of 12-10-2. WI's funding is now at $20,000 as the process continues.

Senator Dalton presents the budget

The total requests for funds totaled over $800,000 (for a budget of less than $600,000). He touts the new travel subsidy, claims that it will become a hallmark program of the AUSG. Also touts the new money going towards the bike lending program.

He says that Women's Initiative only existed as a precursor to an actual Women's Resource Center. Since such a Center will exist next year, it is no longer necessary to continue to increase their funding.

Dalton's argument is very well organized, and well prepared.

If it's Sunday...

I'm a little late, but I'm here in Kogod for today's meeting of the Undergraduate Senate. The budget debate will be taking place shortly. Once again, I must recommend that you check out Gertold's Twitter page.

The Women's Initiative Budget

There will be lots going on in the Senate on Sunday. The most contentious issue, which we got a preview of last week, will likely be over the budget. The budget allocates the SG's $590,400 among the various departments, and must be approved by the Senate. The controversy this year is centered upon the fact that Women's Initiative is slated receive less money as compared to last year.

WI supporters have been throwing around the statistic that this year's budget decreases their funding from last year by 44%. As far as I can tell, this is not accurate. Last year's budget, which is available for all to view, allocated WI $23,000. This year's allocates $17,000. That is a decrease for sure, but not nearly one of 44%. Over the course of the past year, WI did receive funding on top of that initial $23,000, primarily from the additional funds the SG obtained from a higher than expected enrollment and the cancellation of the T-Pain concert. I can only assume that they are comparing their total allocation from last year to this year's budget, which is unreasonable. If additional funds become available again, there is no reason that WI wouldn't be able to apply for them again. But to expect the budget to go above and beyond what they were originally allocated a year ago is based on a comparison of apples to oranges.

That said, this budget still does decrease their funding by $6,000. While that may not be 44%, it is still significant. In my opinion, however, it is justified. The SG has created a new transportation subsidy, and the bike lending program will now have its own budget. These are great programs, and the money for them had to come from somewhere. There are many programs and accounts that will see a decrease in their funding in this year's budget.

Women's Initiative is surely one of the most active and successful of the SG departments. But they are still an SG department, nothing more. Therefore, they must learn to live within the financial constraints of being a part of the SG.

I have no doubt, however, that they will fight for every penny, and it should be a great spectacle on Sunday.

I am still waiting on Women's Initiative to provide a comment of some kind.

Cabinet Nominations

It is that time of the year again. Exciting, no? Here are some of the interesting selections that the executives-elect have chosen to run the SG next year:

Anthony Dunham, Chair of the Judicial Board (not a "cabinet" position, but a very nice choice nonetheless)

Quinn Pregliasco, Director of Women's Initiative

Ben Schorr, Director of Founder's Week (I would say that the bar has been set pretty low for you)

Josh Levitt, Director of KPU

Greg Cornell, Director of SUB