In its Block 7 “Home”-themed issue, Colorado College’s alternative news magazine, The Cipher, published a piece called “Oy Vey, CCSGA.” It detailed the author, Andrea More’s, opinion regarding the way in which CCSGA has functioned this year and in the past.
The article primarily addressed CCSGA’s “fundamental lack of transparency” and went into more detail about their award of $20,000 to the Butler Center, Executive Council stipends, and discretionary funds.
Students have generally responded in favor of the article, agreeing with More’s argument that “CCSGA is viewed as an unrecognizable, ambiguous group on campus.”
In response to the article, CCSGA President Alejandro Salazar argued that the claims about the Butler Center funding, the awards given to CCSGA members in the form of stipend and payroll, and the discretionary funds were ungrounded.
“The most unsettling misconception was the $20,000 award given to the Butler Center,” Salazar said. “The article ridiculed the gift saying that it is part of the administration and that students shouldn’t be funding it. We fund several departments, including the ORC, Campus Activities, and the Athletics Department for IM sports, hockey buses, and hockey tickets.”
In response to this, More said that she was not arguing against the illegality or unconstitutionality of this funding, but rather just wanted to support conversations among students that question whether CCSGA should be funding departments or not.
“This raises a question of who CCSGA’s primary allegiance is to: the students or the administration,” said More. “What needs to be happening now is a conversation between CCSGA and the student body, not with student publications.”
Other alleged misconceptions Salazar noted in the article were the “mysterious” disappearance of the $5,000 for the Orchard Longue event (they went over budget and decided to pay the $5,000 up front) and that their mission statement includes details about discretionary funds.
Despite the disagreements, both Salazar and More acknowledged that students should have some knowledge of CCSGA functions and processes.
“It’s not up to me to say whether the student body should become more interested in CCSGA or if CCSGA needs to reach out more,” said More. “The article was just about presenting information, and I think that it’s only fair to give CCSGA some time before further criticizing them because they are working on processes that require time and patience.”
“Students should be focus on how they can educate themselves and foster a relationship,” she continued. “I don’t want to make people angry but rather foster a relationship between the students and CCSGA that I don’t think has been there this year.”
Salazar has toyed with ideas for creating a better relationship, including setting up a table in Worner for students to ask questions.
“At the same time, Jill [Tiefenthaler] and her staff have done the same thing,” said Salazar. “Maybe it’s just that students don’t know.”