It seems to me that government fiscal responsibility being proverbially flushed down the toilet has reached the campus level.
In Wednesday’s edition of the Branding Iron, the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming was reported to have allocated $1,225 from their reserve fund for “rally towels” for the Boise State football game on Oct. 27. I am as big of a fan of the Cowboys as anyone, but let us be realistic.
These 500 towels, which probably will be strewn throughout the stands after the game and be an irritation to the post-game custodial staff, are apparently quite the investment.
According to the article, some senators said, “it would reflect poorly on ASUW to deny these funds because ASUW had already been in talks with UW Athletics.” Actually, I think it reflects poorly not only on ASUW, but on the entire university that an organization elected to make these decisions would vote almost unanimously on something like this.
The cries for new parking year after year have been swept under the rug, because it supposedly costs too much. Whether or not that is the case, I do not think investing a semester’s cost in tuition for 500 little towels (that will be barely noticeable in a stadium of 30,000) is solving any real issues.
Let’s say I have $100 in my savings account, and I really need a new laptop. However, the cheapest one I can find costs $400. I decide that the laptop is too expensive, even though I need one for my studies. Instead, I gradually waste all the money in my savings account on knickknacks, candy, etc.
I completely agree with Sen. Joshua Messer, and am partially relieved to know that at least one person was opposed to this use of our money. If I need to wave a towel around at a football game, I will buy one for 99 cents (ironically, I calculated the cost of each of these towels to be $2.45 apiece). The least they could do is hand out 500 bottles of water at a game. That would at least somewhat benefit the students of UW.
Chance Thomas Kafka
