I have, but one question to put to you dear reader. What is the bigger mistake? Former Student Assembly President and former Vice President Zach Pilchen ’09 spending $138.51 out of the off-campus account in a 15 day span or current Senator Matt Pinkser ’09 putting forth a bill that proposes the SA spend $2,500 out of the consolidated reserve to rent limousines so students can travel in style to “wherever there is a general election”. Unlike Pilchen, Pinkser has no intention of reimbursing his allocation.
This is the paradox of our SA. Most members seem to possess an obsession with order, detail, and code without a context to place them in. In true SA fashion the only bill passed during Tuesday’s meeting was the Comprehensive Financial Investigation Act sponsored by Senate Chairman Walter McClean ’09. The bill calls for the immediate release of every expenditure from the off-campus account for the last two years. I can assure you that the publication of these figures will be far more embarrassing than the unveiling of Pilchen’s expenditures as they will dwarf his and their impact on students will be only be slightly greater than Zach buying a pack of cigarettes for himself.
The most startling aspect of Tuesday’s meeting was that every senator, with the exception of Steve Nelson ’10, seemed to accept that there was no alternative to Pilchen resigning. Many appeared somber and expressed sentiments that the only thing they could do now was move on and try their best to regain the student’s trust in the upcoming year. No one acknowledged that Pilchen’s shopping spree will have no negative effect on the student body as the all the money was returned as soon as he and SA President Valerie Hopkins ’09 were both able to cosign the transaction. The same cannot be said for the effects of having the citizens of Williamsburg witness hundreds of rich, white, College students emerge from limousines to cast their almighty ballots.
I am now issuing an open proposal to all Senators to sponsor a bill I have in the works. The bill will allocate $2216.16 from the consolidated reserve to pay all undergraduate Senators $138.51 in cash (and some change) in exchange for their vote against the Limos on Election Day Act. Ethical? Legal? Honorable? Absolutely not, but sometimes one must think outside the realm of ethics and the honor code and poke his or her head into the realm of common sense. This bill will save the student body $283.84 and will spare them the shame of exiting a limousine outside of John Tyler High School as normal people look on and ask “Why?”
