Budget battle

For a group with a budget of $8 million, Associated Students, Inc. should watch its money more closely.

Last week, ASI Vice President of Finance Tom Hughes, who finished a distant third in the ASI presidential race, told The Hornet that the budgets of student-directed programs face little scrutiny during the yearly audit, provided they don?t run a deficit. If this is true, ASI is leaving itself open to a lot of foul play.

Any program can simply overspend in every internal area they want. Seems that all they would have to do is move money around until it adds up. This hardly serves the students? interest, since programs are basically being held unaccountable for their expenditures.

Next year?s proposed budget was again the center of a heated debate at a recent meeting of the ASI wizards of the board and Hughes. ASI President Art Pimentel accused the Hughes of wanting the budget to pass because he wanted to finish it quickly, adding that this is not a smart way to handle $8 million. First of all, they can?t figure out how to spend the money, then they don?t bother making sure it is being spent appropriately in the yearly audit. President-Elect Eric Guerra, take notice as you step in as the head honcho: ASI can do better . . .

Film fiasco?

It is now May, and the due date on those term papers is coming up. If your research requires using the periodical archives in the Library, get started immediately. If the Media Center is anything like it was at the end of last semester, you may have already waited too long. During the final month of last semester, the Media Center had only one working monitor that both viewed microfilm and allowed the user to print.

For those who haven?t had the pleasant experience of using it, many periodicals are now put on microfilm. These films may be the only place to find certain magazine or newspaper articles. As a result, those who wait to do research until the last minute are left trying to trick others away from the computer.

At present, the Media Center has three more printable machines that work. This is a step in the right direction. Let?s hope that?s enough to handle the onslaught of nearly 27,000 potential users as their research assignments become due. Let?s hope they continue to work.

Good luck, and bring your prune juice or fake snake collection, because anything that can make somebody give up a seat has been a plus in the Media Center.

Get to the library fast. But first E-mail Russ Edmondson at [email protected].

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