Student Council issued an executive report on its new Contracted Independent Organization consultant program Tuesday night. In a nutshell, the program is intended to help the new leaders of CIOs more effectively manage their financial resources, particularly on the revenue side of the equation. Consultants are especially focused on advising CIOs about fundraising and handling the fairly complex Council appropriations process. The program functions on a voluntary basis: consultants hold office hours weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for interested organizations.
The appropriations process is in dire need of attention, which Council seems to have fully recognized. The consultant program is one aspect of Council's attempt to reduce the borderline fraudulent budgeting practices of many CIOs in the past. To counteract funding cuts, many organizations would request significantly more money than they needed for operating expenses. Often, the amount asked for ran multiple times higher than the funds the organization actually needed or expected to receive from Council.
Although not a comprehensive solution to the appropriations problem, Council leaders acknowledge the consulting initiative is only a first step toward a better process. Still, the new program as it is now appears strikingly insufficient. Vice President of Organizations Colin Hood said that Council will work with 23 consultants, meaning that each will manage between 30 and 40 CIOs.
Regardless of one's ability, it seems unlikely that any sort of meaningful business relationship can develop between each organization and its adviser. With such large dockets, consultants may be able to provide each CIO with occasional assistance, but certainly cannot be expected to guide them all through the budgetary process. Of course, because participation by CIOs is not required, many could opt out and thus lighten the load for consultants. Needless to say, if this is the case, the program will not do much to fix the maligned appropriations process.
Using consultants is not a bad idea, but it might prove a difficult program to sustain. Mandating that CIOs partner with consultants would certainly curb dishonest money requests, but a sheer lack of advisers prevents this from being an effective option. The nature of such a position would appear to have little appeal to most students. People presumably join an organization because they identify with its mission and have a vested interest in helping it succeed. An external consultant has much less of that motivation. Candidly speaking, the competitive nature of many University students translates to more people pursuing leadership roles inside of organizations, not consulting positions meant to assist other groups.
Council is right to recognize the need to fix the appropriations predicament. The consultant program need not be axed, but Council should not expect it to resolve the broken system in its current state.
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