I was pleased to read the headline of the latest Justice Editorial, “Transparency is essential for our Union to function”
Too bad, then, that the editorial focuses wholly on the process of releasing election results. The Justice could have gone much farther than this weak issue.
We need to know about how the F-Board allocates money. We need to know how they come up with their decisions, certainly, but also be able to see how they handle conflicts of interest. Campus rumors have it that only Jordan Rothman ever recused himself from F-Board rulings. True or not, they breed distrust on campus. This F-Board secrecy has, at the very least, brought about the appearance of impropriety, which is prohibited by any serious ethics rules.
But issues relating to transparency goes way beyond F-Board. The Student Union Senate and E-Board proper are in no way in the clear. The Senate has a discretionary fund of $2,462.23. Rumors have it that the discretionary funding is used as a slush fund for the Senate. We can’t check how our money is being spent, so the Senate labors under the impression of improprietary conduct. Tut-tutting over an apathetic student body is merely blaming the victim.
This was a first step by The Justice, but the need for transparency on campus, or even in the Student Union, is way more sweeping.