GSB rejects Carver account

Archana Chandrupatla

After past disagreements about how the George Washington Carver special projects account was being handled, the Government of the Student Body passed a bill Wednesday night dissolving the account. All the money in the account was distributed to several other projects.

GSB President Bryan Burkhardt said he approved of how the account was dissolved.

“My overwhelming feelings are that I’m pleased the money is still able to be used to help students this year,” he said. “All of these projects that the senate helped decide this money should go towards are good initiatives.”

Burkhardt said because the account caused controversy within GSB, he was glad it finally was terminated.

“However, it is unfortunate that some people who were supportive of it at its inception were not supportive of the endeavor throughout the year,” he said.

Jamal White, vice president of GSB, said he also was pleased with the way the account was handled.

“I think the money that was in the account is still going towards things that are supporting the ideals of the GWC committee, which is what the account was created for,” he said.

Steve Erickson, off campus, said he disagreed with the idea of the account from its beginning.

“It exceeded the ability to allocate money from the legislative branch to the executive branch,” he said. “I am glad it was dissolved.”

Also at the meeting, GSB passed a bill approving the finance committee’s allocation recommendations for student groups.

“It’s a very important part of GSB’s process, and it’s important to have that portion done,” Burkhardt said of the bill passing.

GSB was one of the groups sent back to the finance committee for a recommended decrease in funding.

Burkhardt said he was not surprised GSB was sent back for further review.

“I wasn’t opposed to it. In fact, I was expecting that,” he said. “I’ve been trying to come up with ways myself to reduce the budget.”

Erickson said it is important for GSB to “lead by example.”

“If we are going to tell groups they have to cut their budgets, we have to do so first by example,” he said.

In other news:

Two resolutions condemning last Friday’s riot were ruled out of order.

The first resolution, written by Michel Pogge, LAS, was ruled out of order after he and other supporters withdrew their names. The second resolution, written by Erickson, was ruled out of order because supporters of that bill also withdrew their names.

“It was also clear that the senate was not going to pass a resolution, so to save time, I decided to remove my name as a sponsor from the bill,” Pogge said.

Pogge said he was disappointed by the senate’s lack of enthusiasm.

“It seemed they felt this was an issue that should be pushed under the rug,” he said. “[Students] have the right to go to The Knoll and even start hollering at [ISU President Martin] Jischke if they want. However, they don’t have the right to cause private property damage.”

Erickson said he also was unhappy the resolutions were thrown out.

“The fact that there were no resolutions passed condemning the riots showed that GSB is as big a bunch of cowards as the administration,” he said.