Grad student money misused

The Spectrum
Editorials - DECEMBER 8th, 2006
Grad student money misused
GSA is far from closing the books on gross misappropriation of funds

A $230-a-night hotel room, a $500 rental car and gas and a $84 steak dinner: This could have been the bill total for a businessman that just got his holiday bonus check or it could have been an average guy indulging himself after an unexpected raise, but in nobody's wildest dreams would it have been a Graduate Student Association officer using student money for a conference trip turned vacation.

With the resignation of the GSA president, this egregious abuse of student funds has become an exasperating reality.

At a three-day conference in Seattle, GSA President Aubrey Blacom surpassed his $500 spending allowance with fraudulent expenditures resulting in a high-class, all expenses six-day vacation which rung up the bill to nearly $2,200 dollars. He indulged at expensive restaurants making sure to tip anywhere from 20 to 50 percent; he rented a car rather than using the suggested free shuttle and went to put 809 unaccountable miles on that 2006 Chevy and then proceeded to submit all these expenses in paper work in order to get reimbursement.

Was there any thought put into this joy ride?

Despite the reasons and excuses that may be given by the officers in the coming weeks, such offenses raise quite a number of questions about the GSA and the officers that are supposed to honestly run this student organization.

When you're the president of a group, club or organization, it should be a given that you have a well-versed understanding of the policies and rules that can affect you in the job you earned. Executive board members of any club or organization do not have to have every little nuance of policy jargon from top to bottom memorized, but that member should have an understanding of the policies that he or she uses and is held responsible for.

This concept is very simple: if you are planning to go on a trip using GSA funding, wouldn't it be prudent to be versed in the process of reimbursement and what you can and cannot do with organizational funding? Looking at it from this angle, it is hard to give the president the benefit of the doubt. He was either very aware of the offenses he was committing — which means that he was unfit for such power — or he was naively unaware of the policies that directly affect him — which also means that he was unfit for such power.

Not to say that the actions of one individual should signify the character of the whole organization, but this type of situation should provoke a few questions and cause some finger pointing.

Each year most of the GSA office positions are won unopposed, sometimes to the point that they have a hard enough time just trying to fill them all, let alone filling them with worthy candidates. Although a great deal of effort would have to go into such reform, GSA may have to find a way to conquer this lack of concern and student apathy in order to get more qualified people running for positions that need hardworking, trustworthy individuals.

Some light has exposed the misdeed, but the situation is all but illuminated so far. The GSA needs to make sure that no one else is at fault. They need to dig deep with investigation to try to prevent another flagrant abuse of power, because it is definitely not the first incident of student government corruption, and it will surely not be the last either at UB.