Listed below are the following initials of names of interest in connection to their positions within SA:
L. R. - VP of Finance
J. H. - Senate Chair & E-Board Member
B. G. - Senator & BFC Member
The following are official, printed & published accounts of the proceedings transpired between three of the SUNY New Paltz media organizations and the Student Association with regards to the MPR renovations.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TCMC, WFNP-FM, AND WNPC-TV FUND DESPERATELY NEEDED MPR UPGRADE
A top of the line video and audio systems upgrade in the Multi-Purpose Room, which will cost just under $40,000, is being funded by the campus radio station, TV station, and media center at the sacrifice of major repairs to their own facilities and equipment. This sacrifice will benefit all Student Association organizations by replacing old equipment with current media technologies. The intent of thos upgrade is to increase the programmability of the MPR. This upgrade will be for the greater good of the campus and student body.
Certain aspects of this renovation will begin as early as November 16th and continue through to its completion in January 2006, prior to the start of the Spring semester. The contractor that has been hired to complete this upgrade is Audio Video corporation, the same company that has upgraded both the Lecture Center rooms and the WNPC-TV studio and master control rooms. The college is also contributing $4,700 to this project to replace the retractable screen system.
TCMC, WFNP-FM, and WNPC-TV are looking forward to the outcome of this project and the benefits it will bring to the Student Association and the campus community.
The above press release was given to the Public Affairs Office of SUNY New Paltz, as well as submitted to SA with the appropriate requisition form prior to the start of the upgrade. This req. form was signed by the VP of Finance.
### After the completion of the MPR upgrade, this was the response received from the SA Senate:
As reported in the New Paltz Oracle (Thursday 2/2/06)
SENATE ADDRESSES MPR BUDGET
The SUNY New Paltz Student Senate is setting up an inquiry panel in response to The Campus Media Center's donation of $40,000 from its budget to renovate the Student Union Building's Multi-Purpose Room by giving it a new sound system, said Student Senator B. G. Each student organization has to itemize all of its expenditures when it proposes its budget. This renovation and usage of the budget was not in the proposal, and the Senate feels that though the decisions were "admirable," it still should have come before the Senate, said Senator D. C. "Re-allocation of funding from the budget should require a vote by the Budget and Finance Committee at the very least - if not a vote by the Senate at large," he said. B. G. agreed, saying that if the organizations say they are using their budget for one thing and use it for another, "it causes doubt in the Senate and forces the student government to supervise them."
A. B., the campus radio station manager, expressed that the renovation was done to benefit the student body, not because of any obligation. "We went through the proper venues to get the money," she said. "We didn't foresee the screen falling down [in the MPR in October} when we did our budget." B. G. said that the TCMC's choice to spend the money on renovation is "almost excusable" because it is not explicit what the organizations can and can't do with their money, and because the Vice President of Finance, L. R., signed off on the purchases to renovate the MPR without consulting the rest of the executive board or the Student Senate." The purchase requisitions for the equipment for the MPR have his signature on them, and there was a letter attached that was adressed to the Student Association, but [it was] only seen by his eyes until very recently," said D. C. L. R. said that he signed off on it because it is a "basic upkeep of media services." There will be no repercussions on the TCMC.
Not a thank you, not any kind of acknowlegement that we had just given up over 1/3 of our combined budgets to renovate a room that we don't even use very often. No one bothered to mention that it is not written anywhere that we or the VP of Finance are required to ever submit our req. forms to the BFC or the senate. Therefore, it is not without a little bit of cynicism that the following adage is applicable in this circumstance, "No good deed goes unpunished." The weekend immediately following the publishing of the above article, the majority of SA E-Board members and student senators could be found at 9pm lounging in the SUB MPR, participating in a TCMC / WFNP / WNPC funded Super-Bowl Party, and basking in the luxury of a brand new video and sound system... the one that they were protesting the expenditure of.