The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: Commentary

As our nation's president steps down to make way for his successor, USG's president is quietly stepping down as well. Citing the need to focus on "other opportunities … professional and academic" that have been offered to him, Ryan McHardy is resigning from the USG presidency. Much of McHardy's presidency has been characterized by irresponsible fiscal behavior, secrecy and incompetence.

Last year, $6,000 of student fees was squandered on the purchase of leather furniture, a large television and an Xbox 360 for the USG office. In addition, many student organizations (i.e. the ski team, EcoHusky and the Finance Society) were denied funding, despite a $57,000 initial surplus, which turned out to be an additional $115,000 surplus due to an accounting error.

After a year of this nonsense, students re-elected McHardy, who ran on a platform of "change," promising more transparency, a USG Web site "rich with information" and reports on USG's lobbying for students on issues such as textbook costs and advisor accountability.

Of the 21 "commitments" made by the McHardy/Zaritheny campaign, less than half have been completed. The USG website is still atrocious, with dead-end links abounding. No financial records are available on the site. There was no newsletter published to chronicle USG's happenings for students. No reports about USG's lobbying for student issues were published. Where is the promised change? What has USG been doing?

There were some positive moments in the McHardy presidency, such as his veto of an asinine proposal for a USG-funded golf course that was passed by the Senate. In addition, some student groups (such as the airsoft team) were able to have their funding rejections overturned.

Finally, the McHardy administration took students into account this fall when they decided against purchasing BlackBerrys for the USG executive officers. This was an example of the way student government should function, with students making their opinion known and weighing in on a debate.

By stepping aside at this point in time, McHardy has given the USG an opportunity that they should not pass up. They now have a chance to make a real change in their treatment of student concerns. However well intentioned, the McHardy presidency had trouble executing many of their proposed reforms, and the BlackBerry debate, the golf course debate, the fancy new USG office purchases and rumors of salaries for USG officers made USG seem more frivolous and irresponsible than it actually is. With his resignation, McHardy has given the USG a chance to take a new direction. We hope they will take it.

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