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On Aug. 28, five student senators filed a bill of impeachment against Student Body Treasurer John Taylor Willis on grounds of abuse of power and neglect of duty for failure to submit two sets of documents by their filing deadlines.
On Sept. 5, the Committee on Government Relations and Oversight found probable cause to move forward in the proceedings, but reduced the sanction from “impeachment” to “censure,” a strong formal reprimand — at the end of the day, a warning; sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Willis has openly neglected his duties and stands to receive no true sanction and will receive a hefty salary for the job he will not do. This scandal illustrates a need for a reform of the funding mechanism for campus organizations such that students themselves decide where their money is going instead of going through a questionable Student Government.
Evidence against Willis thus far is plainly strong and proceedings are ongoing. The treasurer was formally impeached for not properly filing the paperwork related to a hefty budget that all NC State students contribute to, but the governing apparatus has stripped the teeth from any disciplinary action.
To make matters worse, Willis is well-paid with a $4,200 “stipend” paid directly to him (by me and you and all NC State students) to do the job he will not do.
Student Government has a substantial budget paid for by mandatory student fees. On June 1, Willis himself told Technician the total budget was in the vicinity of a striking $430,000. This episode displays poor management of that money and limited accountability for misconduct with it.
For the 2017-18 academic year, every full-time (12+ credit hours) undergraduate paid $1,261.30 in mandatory university fees in addition to tuition, living expenses and books. According to the university-provided explanation of fees, $7.75 per semester of your dues is the “Student Government Fee.” Engineering students paid an additional $750 in overall fees and graduate students paid the comparable rate of $1,267.30.
$7.75 a semester isn’t facially a huge amount of money, but with roughly 34,000 students paying it, we get to the $430,000 budget seen above.
If you think that number sounds high, you’re not alone. “I thought the budget was a little too hefty but it wasn’t so concerning that I thought I should vote no on it,” said Hampton Clark, a second-year College of Engineering senator studying mechanical engineering with a minor in political science. Clark has no involvement to date in the Willis case.
Student Government has the potential to be a valuable institution on campus; it adds a veneer of democracy to campus life and can service the student body. “I like to think of myself as a problem solver, I feel like my responsibilities [in Student Government] are to listen to people … and try to fix [their] problems,” Clark said.
Clark is likely in the majority of Student Government officials who see their jobs as servicing their fellow students, but in regard to the handling of our money it seems some officials are creating problems, not working to solve them.
It is an incredibly low bar to ask that the person we pay $4,200 to do the paperwork for the $430,000 we trust his organization with to actually do this paperwork. If a student working an unpaid internship refused to do their job, they would be asked to leave without spectacle even though they are being paid $4,200 less than Willis receives.
The sentiment is not an uncommon feeling on campus, as John Andrews, a fourth-year studying history and biology points out: “The budget seems fair given the number of students paying … [but] if [Willis] isn’t doing his job, he shouldn’t be getting paid nor staying in power.”
While that would seem to be the end of it — that Willis had a job, didn’t do it and was impeached — it isn’t. In a Technician op-ed run in response to the coverage of the impeachment, the five student senators who initiated the action stated that the reporting had been “wildly over-exaggerated” and “sensationalized.”
The senators stated that they brought the impeachment action only to encourage Willis to do his job and that he may “have nothing to fear” from it even though they explicitly state he is receiving pay and not doing his job.
When the sanction was reduced last night, this feeling proved justified. At most, Willis will be reprimanded even if the process chugs forward, and will be $4,200 richer for the effort.
I do not mean to deny Willis due process, but the road ahead is long and those who ought to be enforcing accountability seem ambivalent. I respect the potential student government has to be a positive force on campus, but as that is not the case presently, I want my $15.50 back.
I propose, instead of the failed system of pouring money into Student Government to squander, we implement self-designation. Instead of a Student Government fee, there ought to be a student selection fee of the same amount. Every student, when the time comes to pay student fees, should be allowed to designate the student organization or campus event they want their $15.50 to be paid directly.
This would increase the funding available to campus organizations which have the support of students instead of creating a giant pot for Student Government to pay themselves large “stipends” with and then piddle away as they please.