In other societies a shell, food, or even water could be used as money. 

 I think it’s important to take a step back and look at what a dollar can become. Let’s evaluate the potential of our dollars.

For me, at least one dollar turns into a nice cup of hot coffee a day.  We also have basic needs that require our dollars without much thought such as rent, heat, food, and (to some extent) clothing.  So a dollar can provide for the basic essentials of life.  

A dollar can also facilitate enjoyment: good times with friends, dinner with that special someone, or a that nice gadget that you’ve been wanting for a while.  

A dollar is a tool that can be used for necessities, pleasures, but what else?   

As you know, a dollar can be used toward providing financial security in the future. This includes retirement as well as saving for a home or a safer more reliable vehicle.  

These are also great potential uses for a dollar.  Many people don’t take this seriously until it is too late.  Remember that it is never too early to begin using your dollar with the future in mind.  

That means don’t blow your whole paycheck (or Hathaway) on a weekend of fun.

How we spend our money is a direct reflection of who we are.  

It shows how self-absorbed we are, and if you are like me, a significant number of my dollars goes toward me.  Spending money on ourselves is not a bad thing; don’t get me wrong.  

However, it is important to consider how you can help others with your money as well. Money is a tool you can use to help fight breast cancer, support a political party, send a person on a mission, help keep a church going, or give an orphan a home or warm meal.

Money has immense potential.  I hope you consider how you spend your money reflects on you.       

What does it say about what you value?  

I know we college students don’t exactly have large disposable incomes, but remember that it is never too early to develop good habits.  

While you might only be able to give a dollar or five to a cause, know that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Email: Luke Frye

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The Good Mule Project has a few slots left for its South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation trip. There are scholarships available for students who wish to apply.

The date for the trip is still being determined but will take place after finals.

Students will work on Geothermal Energy Projects, work to understand the culture of the Sioux nation, and will take a trip to the Wounded Knee Museum, among other projects during the trip.

 “Good Mule Project is an education-based, free speech organization that helps students at UW become better advocates for any cause they feel passionate about,” Alex Sullivan-Brink, Good Mule coordinator, said. “Good Mule focuses on three areas of need and development: Social justice, diversity, and sustainability.”

Good Mule allows any student with a cause or promotion to come in and receive help to achieve their goals. In November, they received $15,000 from ASUW’s special projects budget, and will use most of the money to improve recycling on campus.

“This will hopefully increase environmental awareness on campus as well as raise money from the recycling which could in-turn help lower student costs here at UW in the future.” 

Good Mule puts on events each semester, inviting guest speakers, putting on film series, and hosting other conferences and awareness events. 

This spring, Good Mule plans to bring guest speaker Leslie A. Newman, author of the book “Heather Has Two Mommies.” Newman last spoke at UW when she spoke on behalf of Matthew Shepherd after his death in 1998. The organization is also planning a presentation on “art as a form of activism” on and off campus during the Martin Luther King Days of Dialogue in January.

The annual Good Mule Conference is Feb. 12-13 and applications are available online at thegoodmule.org. For more information about The Good Mule Project, or about upcoming events, students are encouraged to contact Alex Sullivan-Brink at asulliv9@uwyo.edu. 

Students can also stop by the group’s office in the lower level of the Union.

Email: Cali Cravens 

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Tracey Patton takes her love for knowledge and teaching around the world.

With help from her cross cultural communication class, she has organized a project to help build water tanks for a village in Kenya. 

Today there will be an auction/fundraiser from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Union’s East Ballroom.

Patton is the director of African American & Diaspora Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism. Her areas of expertise are in Critical Cultural Rhetorical Studies and Communication. She teaches classes such as African American Rhetoric, Cross Cultural Communication (the class aiding the orphanage in Kenya) and Rhetorical Theory and Criticism.

She started her academic career with two bachelor degrees from Colorado State University, one in speech communication and another in German. 

She stayed at Colorado State and acquired her master’s in speech communication. In 2000, she earned a doctorate in communications from the University of Utah. 

Patton has taught at Iowa State University, CSU and Utah, and has also done research at Carnegie and Stanford.

While teaching classes, Patton pursues her passion of travel and publishing books.

Patton’s most recent travels took her to conferences such as the National Communication Association in San Francisco, Visual Communication Association in Portland, Oregon and the National Council for Black Studies in New Orleans.

As part of the London exchange program, Patton taught a semester abroad at the University of London, Bloomsbury campus.

“Everywhere I travel, for work or for pleasure, I try to learn as much as I can about an area and try to be mindful about being a ‘world citizen,’” Patton said.

Along with teaching, attending conferences throughout the U.S. teaching abroad, Patton has also been writing a book.

“I am currently writing a book with a former UW graduate student. The book is titled, ‘This Ain’t My First Rodeo.’ I have found learning about rodeo culture fascinating and hope to see it on book shelves next year,” Patton said.

Patton’s passion for education has led her to initiate an aid project in her Cross Cultural Communication class to raise money for Shalom Garden Orphanage in Kenya.

“In the Cross Cultural Communication course, we work with real world clients, like the orphanage in Kenya. Prior to working with the Shalom Garden Orphanage, previous classes worked with Rwandan Genocide survivors and most recently we worked with the Jason Friend’s Foundation, a pediatric cancer non-profit located in Casper,” Patton said.

The orphanage has 25 students and is ran by one director, Margaret Kanyiri, and her assistant. To help this year, there is an auction to raise money for the orphanage.

“There is a great deal of work and learning that goes into working with real world clients. And on top of that, all 25 students work together as a class to make sure that our efforts for the organization are successful,” Patton said.

“We have free refreshments from Turtle Rock Cafe and American Soundwave will be DJ’ing the event,” Keileigh Stibitz, one of the four student project leaders, said. “The auction will be a great time to not only benefit a great cause but start, or finish, holiday shopping.”

The project, next to aiding the Kenyan orphanage, provided the students involved in the project with the opportunity to learn the process behind fundraising.

“Our group’s job was to contact businesses in our community and get items or monetary donations, which would benefit the orphanage,” Stibitz said. “We were also responsible for organizing the event such as the DJ, auction tables and auction forms.”

Patton has now been working with the orphanage for three years, and each year there is a different goal for the money raised. 

“This year, we are assisting the orphanage in getting water tanks. Their goal is to become self sustaining and water tanks would make a big difference,” Oaklee Anderson, another project leader for the Cross Cultural class, said. “This will be the third year Patton’s class has worked with the orphanage. In the past money was raised for essentials like beds, toothbrushes, shoes and school supplies.”

The tanks would catch rainfall and include pur packets, which help to purify the water for drinking.

“Please come out and support your fellow students. You will not just be supporting us, but over 20 children who need our help,” Anderson said.

Email: Davis Bonner 

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We spend a lot of time talking about how to spend as little money as possible or how to save in the most effective way, but rarely do we talk about giving money away. Here I have been writing about financial wellness and saving; (what does giving have to do with this?) Besides, college students don’t exactly have a lot of money to give. While this might be true in comparison to what we will all be able to give in the coming decades, it’s important to establish charitable habits now.

It’s important to realize that there are three things we can do with our money: spend, save or give. Each is a requirement of being responsible. Yet rarely do we ever think about giving. While we may not have thousands of dollars to give, remember that small things can make a big difference. Take your $40 ASUW student fee for example. You may not be happy about having to pay this, but it really isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.  

Your lifestyle is not drastically reduced because of this one expenditure. Based on the budgeted 9,250 students multiplied by two semesters, that total is nearly $750,000! So, on a micro level, $40 per semester isn’t that big of a deal. When the whole-dollar amount is banded together, great things happen. This includes the popular (and potentially lifesaving) program SafeRide, student radio, the RSO Funding Board and the Student Attorney Program, just to name a few services.

That being said, I challenge you to think of a creative or worthy cause for which to give $40.  Maybe decide that you are going to sacrifice one evening of entertainment.  

Invite your friends over to play a board game instead of going out. 

This one-time gift can make a huge difference. If everyone on campus did this once, we could contribute $1 million quite handily.  

Giving is important during these tough economic times. Most charities are suffering. This is because when corporations and individuals cut back, charitable giving is often the first to go.  

Doing this once (giving $40) may not change the world, but it could do a lot. Think about how your life would be if when your income goes up (very likely after graduation), and your spending habits (percentage toward entertainment etc) didn’t change. Would you be happy with the lifestyle you lead? This is the season of giving; spend some time researching an organization or cause that you can associate with. Some organizations include Salvation Army, Red Cross, March of Dimes, Make-A-Wish, Habitat for Humanity and the Cathedral Home for Children.  

While I’m tempted to let you off the hook by saying “If you don’t have any spare cash, consider volunteering,” I don’t want to let you off the hook. 

Volunteering is incredibly important as well, but consider doing more. 

Make a sacrifice and send some dollars to a worthy cause! 

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Winter is here, and so are the constant sniffles and coughs associated with Cold & Flu Season.  As we all know, there are some basic steps you can take to help avoid getting one of these nasty bugs.  Things like washing your hands, eating healthy, or getting a flu shot all contribute to your overall well-being and reduce the chances of being down for the count and unable to study for those midterms or the rapidly approaching finals.  But, there is one more contributor to immune system impairment:  stress. 

One surefire way to get stressed is through your finances, or lack thereof.  You know, “too much month at the end of the money.”  While there is no cure for the common cold, there is a remedy for financial stress and that’s the dreaded word budgeting.  What an awful idea right?  Here I am trying to reduce your stress and bolster your overall wellness, and I just made you uncomfortable.  Relax its ok.

Budgeting isn’t so bad.  There are countless “budget wizards” or other programs (Excel) that make budgeting much simpler and almost painless.  One of these sites is www.budget.cahscourse.com.  This is also available through UW’s financial wellness website www.uwyo.edu/fw.  Stress generally comes from pressure and uncertainty.  While making a budget won’t necessarily increase your income or reduce your expenses, it can reduce your uncertainty and at least give you a game plan or a way to keep score.  Take a few minutes (seriously fifteen is plenty) and make a budget.  You will immediately feel relief and may even find some expenses that you can cut out so you’ll have more money to do something you’d really enjoy. After doing this, you will have at least one less factor getting you down.  You’ll feel better about knowing where you are (even if it’s not where you want to be). 

To review, colds and the flu are no fun, and by reducing your stress you’ll be healthier.  Moreover, by staying healthy, you can avoid all those extra expenses of buying DayQuil, cough drops, TheraFlu, or prescriptions.  As you know, medications are not cheap.  While Student Health appointments won’t cost you any extra, the time spent is another cost you can avoid by staying well.   While I know everyone at Student Health are good people, I don’t particularly care for Dr. visits.  I think they might even appreciate you staying healthy too.  This can be done by keeping a simple budget.  Reducing the uncertainty of your financial life can relieve a lot of unneeded stress.  I found an excellent definition I’ll leave you with by A.A. Latimer, “Budget:  a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.”  Remember, if you have any comments or ideas about financial wellness, feel free to contact me.  I’m in Union 020 (across from the Gardens), and my email is asuwexc1@uwyo.edu.  Feel free to call the office at 766-5204.

Email the author: lfrye@uwyo.edu

jsindt

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Come Nov. 2, one of the most important proposals in the history of Laramie will be on the ballot and it must not be forgotten.

The proposal is the 5th cent tax, officially known as the General Fund Excise Tax. 

Why is it the most important proposal in the history of the city? Well, by not renewing this tax, the city—and every single person who lives or drives through here—will be hurt.

Why should I vote for the 5th cent tax?

First off, this is not a new tax. It has been in the county since 1986, and it contributes an average of 16 percent to the general city fund.  

From there, the tax goes to fund police and fire services, parks, recreation, street reconstruction, graveling streets, dust control, sanding and snow removal, capital construction, community agencies and county road maintenance. These are things you rely on and use on a daily basis. These are not ridiculous expenditures that a bloated government needs to cut. These are essentials.

This tax provides between four and five million dollars to the general fund operating expenses in the City of Laramie. On top of that, for every dollar the city spends on grants, they receive on average three dollars in return. 

Without the 5th cent tax, the city would be unable to receive money from those grants, some of which pay for a large portion of local firefighters’ salaries.

Currently, you pay six percent in sales tax and, if you vote for this tax, that won’t change. It will stay the same and you will be supporting your city the best way you can.  

Of the first four percent of locally-paid taxes, the state keeps 70 percent and only shares 30 percent with Albany County and the City of Laramie. Most of the taxes we pay are not for citizens, but the 5th cent is different.

The county and city receive 99 percent of the revenues that come from the 5th cent tax. It is our taxes that go toward our community. It’s for the local community; it’s for us.

Another benefit from the sales tax is that Laramie citizens are not the only ones who pay it. People traveling through Laramie contribute between 13 and 18 percent of the revenue generated from the tax.

In 2010, the 5th cent tax provided $3,998,111 for Laramie, $675,000 for Albany County and $30,000 for Rock River.

And for those who believe the city does not need anymore money because our utility bills have gone up, it should be noted utility is an entirely different subject.

The city is required to run everything on that bill. The utility bill price going up is just like a business raising its prices when profits are low, much like gas or electric companies. The city is not trying to scam you. Laramie is trying to scrape by.

What happens if I don’t vote yes?

If the tax does not pass, the city will see even more substantial cuts than seen in the last few years. 

First, it’s important to remember that the recession not only makes it tough on citizens but Laramie as well.

Since the sales tax is affected by the amount of money people spend or when the economy falters, the city does not receive as much money.

Over the last two years, the city has already made massive cuts to the budget and has had to lay people off. They’ve cut seven million dollars out of their general fund budget.

If the tax does not pass, the city will have to cut another four million dollars. 

According to the City of Laramie, without the tax, essential services will have to take a hit.

These services include firefighting, police protection, street maintenance and repairs, snow removal and many more. Once again, these are essentials for Laramie citizens.

The money from the tax is also used to support city agencies like the Downtown Clinic, the Eppson Center for Seniors, the Laramie Youth Crisis Center and Interfaith-Good Samaritan. 

Without the tax, these organizations will be unable to provide the full range of services they currently offer.

These agencies are essential to the City of Laramie, UW and the students and citizens in Albany County.

Finally, there is no way to replace this money if the tax is not renewed. It isn’t like the city can pull it out of a magic hat. It will merely cut the budget that has already been decimated by cuts.

Do we really want our city services, the ones that save and protect out lives, watered down to the point that they cannot perform their functions?

This tax needs to pass, if only to protect the essentials. You need to vote yes on the 5th cent tax on Election Day or we will all pay the consequences.

jsindt

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I do not feel my fellow senators and myself are lazy. 

What Sen. Joel Defebaugh and last week’s Branding Iron writer have failed to mention in their articles is the true debate we all heard in the Senate Chambers over this bill. 

Had the debate been whether or not senators should attend RSO events, I would have voted yes; however, the majority of the debate was centered on the issue of RSO autonomy. 

Several senators who voted yes on this bill used phrases like, “this is our money” and we are “giving” that money to the students. Senators who voted yes also argued there should be feedback for the RSOs and for the funding board that can determine future funding.  

The money ASUW grants RSOs is not “our money,” it is the students’ money.  Y’all pay student fees and as Sen. Defebaugh writes in his editorial, some of that money funds the student government.  

As a Senate, we are representing that money and its intention to better this campus and the education students receive at UW. The fact that yes-voting senators feel ownership over students’ money scares me.

Second, what has neither been represented in last week’s article, nor in Sen. Defebaugh’s is there were several amendments made to this bill. 

In fact, it was startling how many violations of the ASUW bylaws were present in this piece of legislation. After said amendments were made, this bill was an entirely different document than the original. 

This signaled to me there was a need for those in favor of this legislation to re-write it and bring it back to ASUW. Also, I feel it is my duty as a senator to represent all students of this university to the best of my abilities and I did my best to hear both sides of the bill before voting.  

In this case it was clear to me that there was a huge flaw in this legislation: ASUW’s sudden power over RSO’s future funding. 

If this legislation passed, it was argued that the ASUW funding board would have say over future funding of events based on their past evaluations, as made by respective senators. 

What right does ASUW have to tell RSOs what they can and cannot do at their events? It is not our duty as a student government to judge the events of our student body and punish them with lack of future funding because of unforeseen obstacles that may occur at their events.  

If this legislation had been structured in a way that we would evaluate events based on their commitments to ASUW funding board then yes, I would have voted in favor of this legislation, but that was not the case. 

The evaluation form presented with this legislation was biased and to some senators very offensive. For example, respective senators would evaluate things such as entertainment of an event, and based on their personal opinion would decide if that event was entertaining enough to be funded in the future. Ridiculous. Who are we, as a small body of representing students, to say what is entertaining or not at events we may have no previous knowledge of whatsoever?

My final voting issue was based on the remarks of the ASUW ex-officios. For those who do not know, ex-officios to the Student Senate are representatives of many student groups such as Greek Life, Student Athlete Advisory Council, etc. These representatives cannot vote but have every right to voice their opinion in all Senate matters.  

When we debated this legislation, two ex-officios (the representatives from United Multicultural Counsel and Residence Halls Association) both urged a no vote as they were also worried that ASUW should not police student events and determine their funding based on the unforeseen. I listen to those I represent and the ex-officios are a prime example of students without voting powers telling ASUW what they want for our university.  

I voted no on this legislation because I feel it must be rewritten: we are not entitled as senators to consider student fees as a “gift” we grant to students holding an event. 

As written, this legislation takes away from RSO autonomy and because I listened to the students in this matter, I feel it is not a piece of legislation that would benefit the student body.  

If those voting decisions make me a bad senator then so be it. I feel I was voting in the interests of our student body and would vote similarly again.

 I do encourage the yes-voting senators to rewrite this legislation, remove the funding boards oversight of RSOs and provide an unbiased evaluation for said events. If this is done, I will vote yes. I think it is our duty as senators to be present at the events we fund, but we have no right to tell students how they should run their events. 

If any student would like to give me feedback on this issue I would love to hear from them as I always want to be an outlet for students to have their voices heard in their elected student government.  My email is: asulliv9@uwyo.edu

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Senate Bill 2292 would have mandated that ASUW Senators attend two RSO events each semester and fill out evaluation forms for the event.

“The bill is designed to provide feedback to RSOs, so they can improve future events they hold,” Dugas said.

 The bill would increase and help build relationships between ASUW and RSOs on campus, Dugas said.

Sen. Pat Hurley spoke in favor of the bill.

“We shouldn’t look at this is if we’re policing RSOs,” Hurley said. “It would be great to have RSOs come to future meetings and be able to look at previous years’ evaluations and see how they intend to improve their future events.”

 Director of Finance Luke Frye was also in support of the legislation. He felt ASUW should have accountability with the money it hands out, Frye said.

“This is student fee money, and we should be responsible for it,” Frye said.

Sen. Will Reese spoke in opposition of Senate Bill 2292.

 “I’ve made it clear that I’m concerned with holding RSOs accountable, but if we really want to be accountable we need to be accountable on Tuesday nights when we’re writing checks,” Reese said. Reese said he feels many of the bureaucratic requirements in the bill are excessive and silly.

Some senators said they believed RSOs should be allowed to evaluate themselves and that the bill is an overreach of student government.

“It’s not our job to be policing the RSOs on campus,” Sen. Lana Percival said. “I feel like we make them jump through enough hoops already—these are our fellow students.” Percival said she feels the bill would lead to ASUW and the RSO Funding Board voting on previous years’ evaluations, instead of the legitimacy of the current requests.

When the Senate took a roll call vote on the bill, the result was 16-9 in favor. The bill, however, needed a two-thirds vote in order to pass, which it missed by a single vote.

However, an attempt to reconsider the bill after some senators left sparked controversy.  Some senators felt the attempt to reconsider was made to take advantage of some senators who voted against the bill and left before the meeting was over.  

“I don’t think the senators would have expected something like this,” Sen. Joe Chenchar said. 

Sen. Jordan Kaul said she thought the move was justified and senators should stay for 100 percent of the meetings. “If they didn’t want to stick it out, they shouldn’t run for ASUW,” she said.

The bill failed again during the re-vote.

In other business, ASUW allocated $1,275 for Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity. The money will go toward their etiquette dinner to take place on Nov. 8. The College of Business has contributed $1,100 to the event, which is intended to instruct students on the necessary etiquette skills to succeed in the business world.

Dan Adams was approved as the Director of Diversity and Student Outreach.  “I will be able to reach out to a diverse UW campus,” Adams said. “I would also like to expand and reach out to all the RSOs on campus as a representative of ASUW.”

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RSO Funding Board has about $11,000 left to give out to organizations for events for the remainder of the semester as of last week’s ASUW meeting, RSO Funding Board Chair Katie Cusack said.

During meetings, several senators have become concerned at the low amount of funding the board has left.

Several have expressed concern about allocating large amounts to organizations on campus because the funding board may not have funding left at the end of the semester.

However, according to the RSO Funding Board, the process is on a first come, first serve basis and no event should be refused funding because of concerns about having money left over.

College of Law Sen. Will Reese has said during Senate meetings that it is important for organizations to show a good faith effort to secure funding from sources outside of ASUW for their events before requesting large sums from ASUW because funding is so low.

Funding board requests which total more than $1,000 must be brought before the ASUW Senate for approval.

RSOs requesting money last spring for events taking place this fall was the reason for the low amount of remaining funding.

The funding board allocated money from this semester’s budget to events that would take place this semester, but in doing so spent most of its budget last year, which has created concerns for groups requesting funding this semester.

“RSOs became proactive and requested funds for this fall last spring,” Cusack said.

The funding board has about $60,000 for activities for next semester but RSOs are already starting to request funding for the spring, she said.

The Senate may choose to allocate some of the money from the ASUW reserve fund to the RSO Funding Board for the remainder of the semester.  However, the issue will first have to be discussed at the Budget and Planning Committee meeting, which will take place Tuesday.

According to the ASUW Finance Policy, the reserve is made up of extra student fees, which are put into the reserve at the end of the year. Access to reserve funds is monitored by the Budget and Planning Committee.

The reserve is used to secure the ongoing development of activities, programs and the advancement of ideals of ASUW, according to the policy.

Recently, the funding board allocated large amounts of money to the Chinese Student Association’s Moon Festival, the Betty’s collaborative concert with Jubilee and an event for Alpine Ski Club. 

There are several more requests exceeding $1,000 coming before the Senate at Tuesday’s meeting.

“More programs are being held, you should take advantage of them because it’s your money,” Cusack said.

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