As Student Council continues recruiting members for each of its many committees, Council President John Nelson cited cutting costs and increasing publicity and transparency as some of Council’s goals for its 2009-10 term.
Nelson said cutting internal costs has been an ongoing goal and will remain a focus.
“We’re very careful in having Amanda [Jenkins], our Chief Financial Officer, and Ben [Chrisinger], our Chief of Staff, look at committee funds ... before they spend so that there aren’t any outrageous expenditures,” Nelson said.
Additionally, Nelson plans to cut costs by downsizing the annual Council retreat and holding it in Charlottesville. The retreat traditionally has taken place outside the City.
“We’re just going to do a day in Charlottesville and possibly pay for lunch and ... that’s taken that cost from several thousand to much, much less,” he said.
Because contracted independent organizations are using more of the funds Council appropriates, Nelson said he expects to see decreased rollover funds next year.
“We’ve benefited ... each year by having that extra money from rollover, [but] we’re expecting less of that next year,” Nelson said. “Our sources for non-[Student Activity Fund] funds have really dried up.”
Aside from cutting Council expenses, Nelson plans to increase the transparency of appointments to the Presidential Committees, which recently have been the source of some criticism, especially after the announcement of this year’s commencement speaker.
Nelson noted that he plans to increase the transparency of opportunities to take part in the Presidential Committees that report directly to University President John T. Casteen, III and that deal with specific issues like financial aid, University libraries and graduation.
Nelson noted that his predecessor, third-year College student Matt Schrimper, had only a few weeks notice to make those appointments when he served as Council president. Nelson said Council could benefit from having advance notice about these upcoming appointments and plans to release information about the application process next week.
In addition to increasing transparency, Nelson hopes to instill in committee members a responsibility to publicize their projects. He added that he also plans to survey students through listservs to see what students expect from Council.
More specific Council goals originate in the committees, the members for which are still being chosen. Council Civic Engagement Committee Chair Laura Nelson, though, said her committee already has several ongoing projects and recently presented a report to the University’s Public Service Advisory Board.
“Different subcommittees have been working on smaller projects this semester, but also thinking long-term about the vision of where the students would like to see civic engagement at U.Va,” she said.
She also added that the committee has plans to consolidate all civic engagement opportunities in a single resource to enable students to better navigate the abundance of information available at the University. She added that many of the committee’s proposals will be presented to the BOV at its next meeting through the University’s Public Service Advisory Board.
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