It seems to me that government fiscal responsibility being proverbially flushed down the toilet has reached the campus level.
In Wednesday’s edition of the Branding Iron, the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming was reported to have allocated $1,225 from their reserve fund for “rally towels” for the Boise State football game on Oct. 27. I am as big of a fan of the Cowboys as anyone, but let us be realistic.
These 500 towels, which probably will be strewn throughout the stands after the game and be an irritation to the post-game custodial staff, are apparently quite the investment.
According to the article, some senators said, “it would reflect poorly on ASUW to deny these funds because ASUW had already been in talks with UW Athletics.” Actually, I think it reflects poorly not only on ASUW, but on the entire university that an organization elected to make these decisions would vote almost unanimously on something like this.
The cries for new parking year after year have been swept under the rug, because it supposedly costs too much. Whether or not that is the case, I do not think investing a semester’s cost in tuition for 500 little towels (that will be barely noticeable in a stadium of 30,000) is solving any real issues.
Let’s say I have $100 in my savings account, and I really need a new laptop. However, the cheapest one I can find costs $400. I decide that the laptop is too expensive, even though I need one for my studies. Instead, I gradually waste all the money in my savings account on knickknacks, candy, etc.
I completely agree with Sen. Joshua Messer, and am partially relieved to know that at least one person was opposed to this use of our money. If I need to wave a towel around at a football game, I will buy one for 99 cents (ironically, I calculated the cost of each of these towels to be $2.45 apiece). The least they could do is hand out 500 bottles of water at a game. That would at least somewhat benefit the students of UW.
Chance Thomas Kafka
Nice new website, BI. It actually works unlike the older site but hey how about a date next to your articles?
Thanks
$1200 is a drop in the bucket of the total ASUW budget. You sound educate yourself on the budget before you cherry pick miniscule items to criticize so that you may sound important. As for parking, that issue is dead and buried, probably about the time you were in second or third grade. UW removed the ugly parking moat around Prexy’s pasture, instituted a shuttle system, and expanded that into a city-wide transit system. Besides, how much influence do you think ASUW has over major decisions that the university takes, anyway? I served on ASUW for 4 years, and trust me, we fought the parking issue 10 years ago. Didn’t matter what students wanted. And now, with the clarity of time, I think the decision to switch to a shuttle system was the right one. Sorry you might have to walk 100 yards to get to class, but life is tough.
Mark,
Just because $1200 is “a drop in the bucket” of the ASUW budget doesn’t mean that it should be just thrown away on a ridiculous expense like “rally towels.” As Chance wrote, the drops add up and could add up to a significant amount. Furthermore, $1200 is not an insignificant amount from the perspective of a student. Why couldn’t ASUW allocate that $1200 for a scholarship? Or give it to a student organization to help fund a trip? The Alternative Spring Break program could certainly use it to help give a few students an unforgettable lifetime experience that would mean a lot more than some towels.
How do I contact someone at the Branding Iron…I would like to submit a music event happening Saturday Nov 3, 2012
Thank you…
Laurie D
303-449-3529