Although Matt McDowell just received his appointment to the student attorney general post Sunday night, he’s already set to tackle a hot-button issue.
McDowell said that once his term begins April 5, he will try to secure a stable funding source for the judicial branch of student government.
Past leaders have taken up the idea but have failed to secure the funds, leaving McDowell to pursue new avenues.
“We might go before the Student Fee Audit Committee and look at the possibility of having a small student fee for honor expenses,” he said. “The other possibility is to increase fund raising among alumni and let them know that we have financial need.”
The problem, said Carolina Chavez, current student attorney general, is that the money the student-run honor system gets through student fees just isn't enough.
Administrators often insist that, as a student group, the judicial branch must go through student channels. So every year, the group must petition Student Congress for a portion of student fees — and often, Chavez said, it needs more than it gets.
“When we go to the administration, they say that students should support us financially,” she said. “But in the eyes of Student Congress, we are just like any other student organization when it comes to funding.”
McDowell said funding is an annual worry because neither Congress nor administrators are willing to fund more than operational costs. “It’s a paradigm,” he said. “Everyone says the honor system is important, but no one is willing to pay more than basic costs.”
“No matter how tight the budget situation gets, it is important that the honor system works effectively,” he said.
