Action by President Wilson in approving the creation of a campus budget board for the allocation of student funds is an encouraging example of the confidence the University of Oregon administration is willing to put in its students.
The new budget will give students the opportunity — for the first time — to have a say in how their money is spent. Previously, the allocation of student union and educational activities funds was handled by one man, the SU director, who made his recommendations to the president after consulting with the various groups which receive support from this fund.
Now — through their representatives on the budget board — students can take a more active part in the important business of financing the SU board, the Emerald, Oregana and Pigger’s Guide, the forensic program and the music program.
The fact that faculty members will also sit on the budget board does not imply in any way that this group is to serve as a rubber stamp for the administration or its business office. To the contrary. Students will out-number faculty members, four to three. The faculty members have been placed on the board to add mature judgment and lend continuity to the group.
An elaborate system of checks and balances has been worked out to ensure fair and equitable representation of students on the board. With the exception of the ASUO president, who is to be an ex-officio member of the board, the student representatives will have to pass a rather thorough screening test before being appointed to the board.
None of the student members-at-large are to be chosen as special representatives of the interested groups. Each of the groups will also have the opportunity to pass on the proposed nominee to the budget board, much as the U.S. Senate votes on presidential appointments to the Supreme Court or to diplomatic posts.
The significance of the plan rests in the basic assumption behind it — that Oregon students are adults and are capable of deciding for themselves how money allocated for their use shall be spent. The administration is to be commended for its recognition of the importance of students in a phase of campus life, previously considered the exclusive domain of faculty.
It will be up to the students — especially the new members of the budget board — to demonstrate to the administration that this faith in the effectiveness of student government has not been misplaced.