Oh, U: $20,000 Inn allocation should have been discussed with students
January 21, 2010 11:42 AM
Two weeks ago, StFX Students’ Union President Sandy MacIntosh delivered a presentation to council about the financial status of the Inn, a talk that concluded with a request to allocate $20,000 for upgrades to the campus bar.
After a little debate and an unseconded motion to table the issue until constituents could be consulted, council decided almost unanimously to fork over the cash for the minor renos.
The upgrades include new lighting fixtures, a foot rail for around the bar, new laminate counters, and a painted wall behind the stage.
These proposed changes are desirable, of course. But they shouldn’t have been priorities – at least not ones necessitating such immediate action that councillors were willing to forgo input from the student body.
Don’t get me wrong; I love the Inn. Indeed, the Inn is usually my destination for those rare times I emerge from my newsroom cave to partake in the enjoyable social interactions known as ‘fun.’
But the Inn underwent expensive renovations less than two years ago. And when students complain about their campus bar, it’s not because of the absence of the ambience that could be provided by these minor changes. It’s because of things like inadequate seating on busy nights or the oft-held pet peeve of long wait times for food service.
I suspect there are a number of underfunded student groups on campus that would resent a $20,000 allocation to an establishment that already absorbs a tremendous amount of attention from the students’ union.
My real gripe with the decision, however, isn’t the merit or non-merit of the upgrades but the rapidity at which the debate transpired, and the fact that councillors ignored the suggestion to hold off on a decision until students had been consulted.
I would also suspect that many students would have cringed as I did if they’d witnessed the inordinate amount of time spent discussing the merits of a $300 reimbursement to the surfing society compared to the $20,000 giveaway to the campus bar.
We’re not talking about pennies here, folks. Instances like these should incense students enough to insist on being kept in the loop on major decisions.
