By Wendy J. Allyn

Concerned that Undergraduate Student Government executive spending was excessive, some USG senators say they are requesting to see a full report of summer expenditures.

A mandate requesting the report, submitted by USG Senators Robert Irby and Brian Rukas, is on the agenda for tonight’s USG meeting. Irby said the senate has been kept in the dark regarding expenditures that were made while senators were absent for the summer.

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I really want to see those expenditures because there have been some concerns, Irby said.

Irby said according to the USG constitution, expenditures from the Student Organization Activity Fee account may be made by USG executives over the summer, but a full report of spending must be made to the senate at the first meeting of the new semester.

The executive branch did not do that, Irby said. All they did was present an operational budget. There was not a complete list of what they had spent.

Some of USG President Duane Sherman’s expenditures at the end of the fiscal year include $130 on posters and frames, two bookcases at about $100 each, a $61 paper shredder, about $80 for two calculators, a $25 wall clock, a $22 steel wastebasket and $145 worth of post-it-notes.

USG’s office expenditures for the summer totaled $2414.46, according to documents from Jean Paratore’s office. Paratore, associate vice president of student affairs, serves as fiscal officer for USG.

Sherman told senators the organization’s office expenses have been high because he was stocking up for the current school year.

Paratore reviews whatever USG plans to purchase and signs approval of purchase requisitions as long as they are legal. She said she does not tell USG how to spend its funds.

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According to Paratore, USG was allocated $52,000 for fiscal year 1995, which ended June 30. Money that is not spent at the end of a fiscal year is returned to the Student Organization Activity Fee account which funds Registered Student Organizations.

Sherman took office May 15 of last year and had until July 1 to spend the remaining fiscal year funds before they went back into the SOFA account.

We wanted to spend it before we lost it, Sherman said.

Paratore said anyone can criticize the administration’s spending, but Sherman did not do anything contrary to USG spending policy.

They’ve stocked up for the year. A lot of offices do that, she said. They had nothing left in their office when they came in.

Graduate and Professional Student Council President Bill Karrow has suggested that USG adopt a policy similar to a GPSC policy requiring council action to approve expenditures over $200.

Any organization that gets money for students should be accounted for, Karrow said.

Paratore said USG can adopt such a policy if they want to, but presently the USG president has discretionary spending because he is not restricted by the constitution.

Duane can’t be criticized for not being under those rules, she said.

USG Vice President Kim Clemens said establishing a policy for USG to regulate executive spending without senate approval would be a good idea, but the limit should be higher than $200. USG has a much larger budget than GPSC, and $200 therefore has a larger effect on GPSC, Clemens said.

When we order paper, that’s $200, she said. I would set a cap of $500 to $1,000.

Clemens said although USG executives would be willing to present expenditures to the senate, there is nothing in the constitution that says it is mandatory.

The senate cannot mandate the executive staff to do anything because the president has veto power, she said.

Clemens said the best method is to have USG Internal Affairs draft an amendment to the by-laws or to the constitution itself if the senate wants summer expenditures formally reported.