Business Services vs. Philosophy Club: Round 2
Okay. So now the funds are in our account, but we can't access them. Apparently, we needed to submit a disbursment request by Monday for us to access it within that week...which was yesterday...when the funds were not yet in our account. We talked to CLASS Council about finding a way to make an exception for us. They told us to talk to this one
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Mr. Fong,
I'm contacting you because of worrisome reports I have received from students concerning the conduct of personnel in the Business Services office, more specifically, Eliane Townsend.
Allow me to provide some background: I advise the Philosophy Club and the Ethics Society. The officers of these student organizations have been engaged in ongoing efforts to acquire funding to participate in an academic competition called Ethics Bowl. (Students from Cal Poly Pomona have been participating in this competition since 2005.) The students have carefully followed all ASI protocols concerning the approval and disbursement of these funds. To date, the funds have been approved and are awaiting disbursement into the appropriate accounts. Needless to say, this is an urgent matter, as the students were approved for funding to travel to a competition taking place in San Jose this coming Saturday, December 6. All that is necessary for students to cover travel expenses to the competition is disbursement to the appropriate organizational account.
The students have repeatedly sought the assistance of Ms. Townsend in disbursing these funds promptly. Unfortunately, the students have found her to be uncooperative and unhelpful on several occasions, showing an unwillingness to explain why the funds have not been made available in a more timely manner and an unwillingness to make efforts to ensure their timely disbursement. The students also report that Ms. Townsend is now unwilling to speak to them or communicate with them concerning this situation.
Of course, I'm only hearing the details of these interactions from the students' point of view, so there may be facts to which I am not privy. Nevertheless, if the students' statements are accurate, Ms. Townsend's conduct appears unprofessional and insensitive to the needs of the very student organizations ASI is supposed to serve. Indeed, I have come over the years to expect that ASI will conduct its business in ways that are occasionally slower and more cumbersome than I as a faculty member might expect, but these claims (if true) suggest an active resistance on the part of Business Services personnel to meeting student needs. ASI's statement of values mentions commitments to integrity, dedication, and respect, but these do not seem much in evidence in this course of events. Furthermore, ASI's vision embraces "assessment as a basis for decision-making and policy formulation." Thus, I hope you will take my remarks as a parcel of assessment data.
Please forgive the stern tone of this e-mail, but this situation is extremely frustrating for my students and for myself. Again, I desire neither to make groundless accusations based on partial evidence nor to kick up dust where it is unwarranted. At the same time, I have no reason to distrust my students' reports of these interactions with Business Services personnel and sincerely believe they have made diligent efforts to acquire the funds in question. I hope you can shed light on this situation and help resolve it in a manner agreeable to all parties involved.
Thank you.
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hopefully since he's faculty he'll get better results >.>'
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OMG! WHATEVER THE FUCK I HAVE IS ACTUALLY STARTING TO HURT MY NECK NOW! D8
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and...oi DD:
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