MSA, GPC at odds over Verge'N funding
GPC is seeking $600 in compensation.
Published Sept. 8, 2006
The failure of the Missouri Students Association-sponsored monthly diversity magazine, Verge'N, nearly six months ago has made for a turbulent first meeting for MSA's Operations Committee because it might have indirectly caused friction between MU's two governing student bodies.
The committee met Tuesday evening in the Eyler Room of Memorial Union with Student Life Director Mark Lucas and Graduate Professional Council President Mark Beard. There they discussed GPC's request for the reimbursement of funds that GPC claims were spent without its approval to fund Verge'N.
The weight of the topic pushed the committee's inaugural meeting past the realm of handshakes and formalities and swiftly into a debate about whether it was MSA's role to pay back funds that were essentially given to GPC by Student Life.
"It was intense," MSA Senate Operations Chairman Jon Mays said. "Usually it's more like 'Hey, nice to meet you, thanks for coming, what's on your mind?' But where's the fun in that?"
The committee decided after nearly two hours of deliberation that the MSA would not pay the $600 requested by the GPC for compensation for monies that Beard said were spent "unbeknownst to the graduate and professional students."
Beard said the decision has hurt relations between the two governing bodies.
"Anytime student governments don't see eye to eye, it hurts the ability of each separate entity to get things done on campus," Beard said.
The money used by MSA to fund the publication was the product of a surplus of $8,500 from the College Readership Program, which provides newspapers to students at a low subscription price. All students pay for the program as part of their tuition.
Lucas, whose department oversees the program, approached then-MSA president Tony Luetkemeyer about possible uses for the spare funds.
Lucas said MSA was given the choice to rollover the funds to the following year or use it for an "approved action." Under Luetkemeyer, MSA chose to use the money to fund Verge'N, and GPC claimed it had been left out of the decision.
"I discovered the flaw in my decision was that I didn't include the GPC," Lucas said.
According to Beard, the $600 the GPC is seeking is representative of the percentage of graduate and professional students on campus in relation to the program's surplus. Following Tuesday's decision, Beard said GPC will continue to work with MSA and student affairs to ensure that it receives the money.