Hawkeye Republican

UNDER SLIGHTLY FALSE PRETENSES: Today and tomorrow Iowa students will vote in special elections to fill vacant senate seats.

With a near record number of candidates (27), a flurry of advertisements and a concerted campus-wide push from Student Elections Board and UISG, turnout should actually be significant.

The convincing voting lure is the enormous hunk of student fee money that UISG allocates--over $1 million annually--to our 400+ student organizations.

"It is very important that students vote," said Bridget Henry, the director of the Student Elections Board. "These are the people who will make decisions that will affect them."

UISG's $1 million budget funds student groups, so the election is important for anyone involved in campus organizations, she said.

However, as a Student Allocation and Budgeting Committee (SABAC) member, I can tell you that the twelve newly elected senators won't get much say in the direction of those funds.

Sure, they'll vote with the Assembly as a whole over the allocations, but very rarely does one cog in the machine slow down the well-oiled machine of approval.

SABAC allocates the cash. Not $1 million either, but a little over $500,000. Office of Student Life overhead snaps up a big percentage.

Big government--that's how UISG works.