To the Editor:

Last year, when the YCC promoted the student activities fee, we were assured that campuswide activities were deteriorating and more funds were desperately needed. But a semester after receiving the dues, the YCC has failed to live up to its promises.

Shortly after the fee waiver deadline, the YCC announced the creation of the Committee for Campus-wide Activities (CCA). The nominal purpose of the CCA was to offer activity-related funds for campus events. However, during the fall semester, the CCA struggled to fulfill its goal. Besides failing to respond to student inquiries, the CCA created a complicated application process and unrealistically strict requirements. These restrictions prevented student groups from accessing the money.

The YCC trumpeted the Fall Show as a success, but we were not impressed. In order to show off their new wealth, the YCC planned a three-hour performance, prompting a mass exodus of the audience after the second hour. If the YCC had hired one comedian, the show would have been a reasonable length and the Council might have profited instead of wasting $20,000.

Before winter break, club sports leaders decried the new funding amounts as inadequate. Even though additional funding for club sports was a large part of the activity fee’s mandate, the YCC failed to relieve the most financially stressed clubs. In reply, the YCC created the Club Sports Advisory Board, another committee to further convolute funding allocations.

Perhaps most frustrating is that the YCC assured us in an e-mail that we would be able to access a “continuously updated” online YCC budget. The most recent update occurred in October.

When the YCC asked for the fee, the representatives should have planned ahead. The UOFC, CCA and YSAC should have undergone financial management training before receiving the new funds. Unfortunately, laziness and lack of courage caused the council to mishandle its treasury.

Because much of the funding comes from a misled student body, the YCC did not have to earn the money. Therefore, the representatives do not manage the treasury as responsible owners. Now, we find the YCC infrastructure inadequate and its leadership struggling to assist undergraduate organizations. The YCC must realize that a large bank account does not condone irresponsibility.

Max Sklar ’06

Daniel Wiznia ’06

Jan. 16, 2006

Sklar and Wiznia are former officers on the Silliman College Council.