Undergraduate Student Government Under the Student Services Corporation Makes Move to Rescind Student Life Budget
By Aspasia Celia Tsampas and Hebh Jamal
The following article appears in the December 2019 edition of The Campus
On Friday, October 18, 2019, theStudent Services Corporation (SSC), a committee that works with the Division ofStudent Affairs, filed a motion to rescind and freeze the budget of the StudentLife & Leadership Development department at The City College of New Yorkdue to widespread dissatisfaction with the department.
The Student Services Corporationoversees the allocation of the Student Activity Fee, which all students payeach semester to be distributed to Student Government, athletics, the Health& Wellness Center, etc. The committee, comprised of majority studentmembers of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), faculty, and staff,passed a motion led by Assetou Kone, USG Vice President of Campus Affairs, torescind the Student Life budget in an attempt to demand immediate improvementin the department.
In a message addressed to the student body of City College, USG President Frantzy Luzincourt stated, “A recurring point of frustration among club leaders and students alike is the mind-boggling inefficiency of the Student Life & Leadership Development department. Regularly, we hear of events being canceled at the last minute, reservation requests being denied in spite of room availability, and, above all, the infamous ‘24 business days’ policy for event reservations.” It is because of this multitude of reasons, and a lack of cooperation with the department, that the committee moved to suspend the budget in demand of enacting a higher standard of operation from Student Life.
In an interview with The Campus, USG Vice President of PublicAffairs, Seba Uchida Chavez, affirmed that this action was not taken lightly,stating, “We’re all students here. We’re not workers here. Our interests alignwith the students’ interests.” For both Luzincourt and Uchida Chavez, ensuringstudent money is allocated correctly is the biggest motivation for this move.
Prior to this decision, bothLuzincourt and Uchida Chavez cited many attempts to reform and work withStudent Life without these drastic measures. Luzincourt states, “Our strategywas to speak to Evelyn [Assistant Director at Student Life], talk things out,get some things to change, and a week or two later things would go back tonormal.” However, according to Luzincourt, Student Life was unprepared todiscuss budget allocation with the committee and was difficult to reach.
Currently, Student Life’s budgetconsists of $250,000 of student money paid through the Student Activity Fee,which every student pays through their tuition. Of this money, 76% is beingused towards the salaries of Student Life employees. For Luzincourt, this factalone is incentive to act to solve the problem, “If I’m only hearing negativethings from this office, my first reaction is figuring out ways to solve it.”
Nonetheless, should the SSC’sdrastic vote to rescind the entirety of Student Life’s budget go through, lifeon campus will change greatly as a result. First and foremost, understandingexactly what Student Life does is essential to being aware of what exactly willgo missing if the department were to be suspended. At large, Student Lifeoversees all student-run clubs on campus, facilitates various events throughoutthe year (including the popular Lavender Fever Week), and organizes leadershipprograms and diversity programming. Additionally, they organize Commencement,Graduate Salute, and orientation. Not to mention, there would be fourteensalaried employees of the department who would be terminated should the votepass.
For these reasons, the future ofStudent Life lies in static as the committee waits for CUNY Legal to approve ordeny their request to rescind the budget. Without process and justification,the SSC board faces a possibility to be sued due to wrongful termination of theemployees of Student Life.
Regardless, as the college awaitsthe decision, this vote opens up the opportunity to speak truthfully about theapproval of Student Life, or lack thereof, especially since in the past, thedepartment had the luxury of evading USG constraints due to the one-yeartimeline the student governing body operates on.
Many variousclub leaders seem to share unanimous concerns: it is stressful organizing clubactivities. Sabrina Bazelais, presidentof the Black Student Union, told TheCampus that she put in a request for an event one month prior, on September18th, and only got approved on October 21st; “The process of getting approvalfor [events] is strenuous,” she said, “You have to jump through hurdles just toget basic information.” One rule for Student Life requires that all event requests and facilityrequests that take place from 6 pm must be submitted exactly 24 business daysbefore the proposed event date.
Student Lifehas strict rules on marketing for events on campus without their confirmation.This policy includes posting flyers around campus without Student Life’sphysical stamp of approval. “If we want to promote an event but we don’t getapproval until three days before the event happens, club leaders have a limitedopportunity to promote their event,'' said Mariah Ramirez, president of theDominican Student Association.
Assistant Director of Student Life, Evelyn Ortega said that she“understands the frustration” students feel towards the 24 day rule, yetexplained that “public safety, facilities and Student Affairs all review theinformation”, which in her view is done to “make sure all logistical aspectsare covered to have successful events on campus.”
It is notthe first time Student Life is at the center of controversy. Last spring,CCNY’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held an event with a speakerthat Student Life canceled under the premise that it was“particularly controversial.” The eventwas reinstated, however, due to push back from SJP and Palestine Legal.
Althoughfrustration was the general sentiment from club leaders, people had mixed viewson whether USG should freeze Student Life’s budget. “If we are the ones fundingStudent Life and feel like they are ineffective at their job, then it shouldalso be up to us if they are to continue to operate,” said TKE fraternitypresidentOrlando Garcia Castro.NAACP president, Jaileessa Casimir, disagrees, “I do not believe freezingbudgets and shutting down departments will get the job done,” she told The Campus. Instead, Casimir believes,“that there cannot be plans to shut something down without plans to rebuildsomething better.”
It is clearthat Student Life has not lived up to students’ needs, but there is no clearalternative for if the budget freezegoes through. Uchida Chavez, however, believes there is not a quandary at hand,“I think it’s pretty clear,” he said, “We’re saying something, and they caneither comply and agree to work with us, or reform student life, or not havegraduation, ultimately that’s their decision.”
Ortega,however, believes Student Life is doing the best they can and looks forward toimproving the department to better fit the needs of students, saying, “I willalways support opportunities for our department to engage in multiple avenuesthat support the student body.” With the absence of a director, Ortega fills adual role and holds many responsibilities as the leader of the department. Hertitle involves overseeing all functions of the department, serving on variouscollege committees, and additionally providing “A support and bridge to allstudent organizations, including USG, to have meaningful engagement experienceswith all facets of the college.”
While Ortegafeels the department has done a lot to fulfill the purpose of Student Life, sheunderstands there is always room for improvement, “We welcome any constructivefeedback to improve services for the 150+ clubs and have focus groups in placeto assess our continued and constant efforts to be a resource for allstudents.” In fact, on Thursday, November 14th, multiple student club leaderson campus received emails from Student Life about these focus groups, in aneffort to foster the two-way type of communication that the department ofStudent Life was originally intended to uphold. Moving forward, the goal ofStudent Life remains to continue that open dialogue with students. Ortega states,“Continued open dialogue and participation from students will be the best wayto create and reflect the change the students need.”
Lastly, inresponse to USG’s drastic moves under the SSC, Ortega holds no hard feelings,“As the representatives of the student body, I am confident USG will alwayswork within the best interests of the students they serve and will continue toprovide the support they need during this process.”
While at thepublication of this article the fate of the SSC’s vote to rescind the budget ofStudent Life is still in limbo by CUNY Legal, the decision to move forward withthe vote itself is indication enough of the conversation needed betweenstudents and their administration counterpart, the Student Life &Leadership Development department.
