I am writing in support of USG President Ryan Fournier’s veto involving the medical hotline bill. As a senator of the South Campus constituency, I believe that the president’s actions are commendable and should be acknowledged.
No significant evidence was presented to the Senate that this hotline was wanted by the student body. Because it is the student activity fee being used to support this program, I firmly believe some kind of prior consultation with our constituents should be necessary to implement this large of a program.
It was extremely appalling to watch as my fellow senators passed legislation of such high monetary value as if it were nothing. Many noted that they were willing to “gamble” $36,000 of student activity fees on a program that had no stable presentation.
The fact that our university had this type of hotline before proves nothing. If this program was as successful as noted in the past, it would not have been cut by the university.
Although it is true Vice President of Student Affairs Rich Hollingsworth committed $20,000 to the program this year, he made it known in an e-mail to the senators that he could not guarantee such money next year, or any following year. He claimed that there were much more urgent issues, such as providing more mental health counselors to the students who normally have to wait two to three weeks to meet with one.
We were also told the director of the student health center supported this initiative, but received no written documentation of it.
Senators who supported this bill made many valid arguments and I respect their opinions. I agree that a medical hotline could benefit students of the university. The underlying question is, however, would students actually use it?
Many senators voiced their concerns about how their own insurance companies already have such a hotline. Noting this, one could arguably conclude that most students have access to such a hotline and do not even know it.
Supporting senators also believed that if the program was successful, the university might pick up the funding for it. No university official has even hinted of that possibility.
It is also troubling to me that many senators completely ignored the concerns of President Fournier when he said if USG would ever have to fund this $56,000 program alone, it would not be able to. USG is given more than $200,000 of student activity fees every year. It is a shame that some senators would gamble $37,000 of this money into a program that has not been presented in a proper manner.
Normally, when a bill comes to the senate floor, especially one of such a large size, an itemized budget is required, along with statistics and figures of the proposed program. None of this was presented to the senate when the student health line bill came to the floor. There were many assumptions about the program and no information was provided about the success of such programs at other schools.
In closing, I would like to ask the student body to please contact your senators and let them know your opinions on this issue. We are elected to serve you. It is your student activity fee that we have the power to give away, and you must let us know how you wish us to do so.
Eric Watson South campus Senator
