Budgerchonge?

Will Collins will bring to the joint board meeting next
week a proposal for a major budget overhaul. Collins
wishes to persuade the boards to allow him to prepare
extensive budget “recommendations” for next year, the
year for which he is not assured presidency. Collins wants
the present SGA administration to go through all the
stages of budget preparation this February in order to
“guide” the newly elected SGA cabinet for the school year
'76-'77.

The ideology behind this consideration has some good
aspects. The Collins proposal seeks to do away with the
time-honored process of making important budget
decisions at the hectic end of the year. Also, the proposed
February budget recommendations would help out a new
uninformed president who would be totally unprepared for
making such pressing decisions without some form of
help.

The old budget approval system is very inefficient and
deserves to be done away with, but the efficacy of the
Collins' proposal is also highly questionable. Surely the
new time for budget hearings is a better one for finance
committee and cabinet members, as they will not be as
burdened with schoolwork. But, February seems a poor
date for those who must prepare and defend their new
budget requests. Who can realize all their expenses for the
past year by February, especially when budgets have
never been planned very far in advance? If SGA wants to
start discussing planning budgets a year ahead of time, a
minor transition period would be in order.

All the agony and time which goes into budget
preparation shouldn’t have to be repeated. If the February
budget is approved, this may happen. The present cabinet
will go through all the necessary monkey-business of
budget approval, an antagonistic person can make it a:
campaign issue, and come May everyone will have to go
through budget hearings all over again. Will's “recom-
mendations,” however well-meant, could prove to be
nothing but time-wasters.

Also,Mr. Collins may be tying the hands of the new
president. It ultimately is the duty of the new ad-
ministration to carefully scrutinize . budgetary matters,
but if decisions have already been made, it might be easier
for cabinet members to slough off the responsibility.

The proposed February budget may free the Public
Events Committee to plan concerts and plays farther
ahead of time, but it places unnecessary pressure on the
other involved parties.

Though Collin's proposal does not look workable, there
is no doubt we cannot have the old system, either. Perhaps
the budget should be done right after spring break, as
soon as the new president takes office. In this case, a new
joint boards should be established immediately so the new
president is not a lame duck for most of the quarter; this
would necessitate moving up room-draw. Also there is a
need for a gradual preparation for forward»thinking
budgetary planning; SGA cannot simply demand a
sudden catchrup.

The February budget plan has been attacked as a
personal move on the part of Will Collins to control two
presidencies at once. It has also been maintained that Mr.
Collins has an admirable goal in mind and that we ought
to support him for this reason only. We hope the joint
boards will overlook personal and vague idealogical

reasons and Vote pragmatically. The real issues are who
the budget plan is serving, will it work and is it worth it?

Letters

The Urlnnell Scarlet and Black, October 31. 1915—1). 6

A plea for consideration

To the Editor:
This is an open letter to thc
lwenty women who wrote in last
week‘s 5&8. Perhaps though, it
ought to be lnore properly
rcgorded as a plea, a plea tor
clarity 01‘ thought. and far
more importantly, a plea tor the
respect oi other people, My 0117
jections to lheir lettcr are twoiold.
The iii-st is in the conclusions [hey
infer, The second objection is in
their sarcastic und insensitive
treatment oi individuals.
Regarding the iii-st point then,
some questions aris , whero did
the 5&8 imply either that “female
participation . is solely
measured by lhcnumbcr oi women
in SGA.” or that your major
achicvcments are “not as valuable
as an increase in hall reps would
bet" it is true that the soil;
editorial expressed regret at the
present situation. but where are
the degrading implications?
Perhaps your paranoia is unr

Kramer

To the Editor:

ireei a responsibility to respond
to the letter criticizing the
presentation oi women by the s it
B. First 1 would like to take inll
responsibility tor the content and
message of my columns. The
opinions are my own . not the
propounded ideology of the paper
as a whole. Secondly, an intrinsic
aspect of my column, is twasi to
initiate dialogue on human issues,
political, social, or other. For that
reason I appreciate the letter and
the women who did speak out on
issues they deemed urgent and
vital. I did not sign the column
because I wished the readers to see
the work simply as one woman's
perceptions, not the work of an

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necessary,

But lhis is secondary to the real
focus of this letter, and that is
sensitivity to others' views and
ioolings

Your letter very oiiectively
lambasts the author cl “Zallda”7
bul did you stop to consider what
effect it would have on someone to
call their views ”absurd,"
“narrow perceptions,” clc.'Z lithe
purpose oi the women’s movement
(and indeed, all movements that
have as their ultimate goal a
consciousnessraising of society
and its individuals) is in liberate,
then isn’t sarcastic criticism
destructive, and thereiore counter-
productive? And, to compound the
problem. your anger seems to have
obscured the clarity oi your
lhoughl.

Example: you state of the
“Zanda” article that “she offers no
suggestion ior Coping with me
difficulties of relationships beyond
adopting [he altitude of schoolwork

first.” Now let us contrast this with
a statement from the article:
“Perhaps the Grinnell attitude is
the correctone for this situation .. .
But why not move on a iccling
now? A decisive step could be the
correct one even it it appears to be
an enormous risk.” The author
ilncs offer an alternative. and that
is to react to our emotions even in
the face of a risk. instead of being
cntiroly academic beings.

This is a plea ior consideration.
for respect. and most importantly,
tor a sensitivity to the power,
destructive or otherwise, that
words can have on other people’s
feelings, 1 do not ask that you
compromise your position, only the
way in which you state it. If we can
speak to each other constructively,
\viihout sarcasm. then there is a
great deal to be gained in the
community, If we cannot do that,
then we are in far worse shape than
i thought. I can only hope others
wise—Boll Aldrich

defends cOlumn

individual they may have
preconceived notions about.

i feel I must clarify aspects of
my columns which were
misconstrued. In “Power to No
One" my precise point was to
applaud the variety of women on
the Grinnell campus. I attempted
to point out (he absurdiiles of
stereotyping any Grinnell woman,
be she careervoriented or a
homemaker. My perceptions oi
Grinnell relationships grow from
my own experiences and from
action oi my iriends My message
was to express the basic
frustrations and fears that we all

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face when joiningwith another
person in love.

Finally 1 would like to invite the
authors and supporters oi the letter
and other students to speak to me
on a, personal basis about any
grievances or differences oi
opinion which may arise irom
iuture columns, Any person who
wishes to contribute their personal
thoughts to the column is also
welcomeiKatllerine n. Kramer

40h Ave.

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