More letters

I sent this to everybody on the contact list. Who knows?
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I am sure by now that you are aware with the situation with the SU Outing Club. I realize that discussion between the Outing Club, Rec. Services, and the administration has been rather heated lately. I think a large part of the problem has been a lack of communication.

The Outing Club was first approached about this issue during Student Association finance meetings, and the approach was perceived as being quite hostile (and in violation of SA laws) on the part of Mr. Baker. Whether or not that was the intention of his remarks during the finance meetings is unclear; it was quite possibly a misunderstanding. Regardless of his intentions, an immediate tone of distrust was put into place, the effects of which we have been seeing on campus this week.

The Outing Club's reaction to the issue can be further explained by an encounter with Mitch Gartenberg, head of Recreation Services, in 2001. Mr. Gartenberg diffused a situation involving the Outing Club's equipment room by publicly stating there were no plans to change the organization nor to force it to merge with Recreation Services. I quote a letter that Mr. Gartenberg wrote to the Editor of the Daily Orange on 23 January 2001:

"Any such partnership [between SA organizations and Recreation Services] will be a decision that organizations will need to evaluate for themselves and their constituencies, as there will be no required partnership mandate."

It seems that the Outing Club is now having a "required partnership mandate," enforced, the details of which seem tenuous at best.

The problems that the Outing Club sees with this mandate are not in the immediate future, but years down the road. Currently, Recreation Services does not have the budget to support the Outing Club. Both Mr. Gartenberg and Mr. Lore have been very upfront on this point. Further, the Student Association has told SUOC on several occasions that, if the Outing Club is eligible to receive funding from the co-curricular fee, it would receive little to no funding from SA.

Putting two and two together, the Outing Club has become suspicious that this move will make the organization vulnerable down the road -- a lack of SA funding may make future generations of SUOCers more likely to move the club entirely to Recreation Services, a move that the current membership feels simply will not fit. Student leadership and autonomy are the key ingredients to our organization, and being merged into Recreation Services and the Outdoor Education program in the future will kill the organization's soul.

These points aside, I believe this forced move of jurisdiction is bringing to light something that the administration of this University is missing in its mission: Universities exist because of students, not because of administrators. I am not a practitioner of the idea that a University should exist to serve students. I simply believe that a University should present its students with opportunities, decisions, and, not least importantly, information.

What SUOC would like at this point is straight talk from the administration. What are the risk management and liability problems with the organization under the Student Association? How does a move to Recreation Services protect our organization and the University from those issues? Could we negotiate a contract to ensure continued funding through the Student Association and to protect the autonomy of the Outing Club indefinitely? Finally, pertaining to Mr. Gartenberg's earlier remarks, what assurance does the Outing Club have that the administration will not further stifle the leadership opportunities of the organization?

I truly believe we all have each other's best intentions with this administrative move. The trouble is that we do not know what each other wants. Currently, we have a petition of over 500 signatures from members of the University community who want to know why this move is happening and what alternatives exist. If Syracuse University wants to demonstrate its role as a Student-Centered Research University, it will be attentive to the wishes of its students, faculty, and alumni, and make a move on this matter to show that attentiveness.

Respectfully,
Well, you know the rest.