The Student Association transit committee last Sunday recommended $27,000 for the purchase of five more Huskie Tracks GPS monitors to adorn residence hall walls.

When it comes to these purchases – made with NIU students’ money – many different views will be held regarding the worthiness and cost-effectiveness of these desired commodities.

As the municipal, state and federal governments poll the population to seek and gather the opinions of those constituents that will be footing the bill for big-project purchases, the SA should find out whether or not NIU students even see a need for new GPS monitors.

The SA should conduct a student opinion poll on the topic. NIU even has a public opinion lab dedicated to conducting the very studies the SA could use to find out whether most NIU students even see a need for the enhanced Huskie Tracks proposal.

The SA should find out if the Residence Hall Association, which must still review and approve the proposal for it to stand any further chance, can even feasibly afford its share of the cost for the new project.

The SA should make sure it continuously works to represent students’ opinions and views and never acts on anything that isn’t called for and supported by those very students that will be paying for what the SA decides to do.

Unfortunately though, the SA probably won’t do any of that.

It really doesn’t need to, with a student body that is as accommodating to the SA’s spending of its money as ours. Last spring, 4 percent of NIU’s student body voted in the Student Association/Campus Activities Board elections. That comes to just over 1,000 people out of about 25,000 NIU students total who voted in an election to determine who would be spending the very money they pay to come here.

With such little attention paid to the SA, it might not seem so hard for some in the organization to push their own pet projects with the sole purpose of marking down another accomplishment for the old resumé. Now this may or may not occur, but whether it does or not isn’t the point. If it happens, it’s because students do nothing to stop it from happening.

If you’ve ever cared about how your money is spent, you should do something about it. And there is no limit to what you can do about it. But you should start with attending SA Senate meetings, which are held every Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center’s Skyroom.

You should also visit the SA Web site at www.niu.edu/sa, where you can find the name and contact information of every SA official you would ever need to talk to about how your money is spent.

For example, if you were concerned about money to be spent on five more Huskie Tracks GPS monitors, you would find on the SA Web site’s executive cabinet page that an individual named Brent Keller is the SA director of mass transit – a position which certainly has much to do with a proposal such as the Huskie Tracks expansion.

You will also find that Keller can be reached in his Campus Life Building office, at 815-753-0308 or by e-mail at [email protected].

There’s an SA official for every issue and they answer to you because they spend your money. Take the time to find them and make your representation a reality.