Glickman: State of the campus is ‘unacceptable’

Budget concerns and a lack of administrative transparency led SGA President Steve Glickman to one conclusion last night: The state of the campus is unacceptable.

In the annual address to the Student Government Association, Glickman praised his organization for delivering on their promises but repeatedly criticized the administration for a lack of transparency and using student fee increases to make up for budget cuts.

"There is a disturbing sense of distrust of the administration," he said, while praising the unprecedented placement of the university budget on the SGA website. "Transparency, especially during a tense time of budget cuts, is not near the level that it should be."

Pegging the urgency of financial solutions to yesterday's announcement of a $25 million cut to the university's funding, Glickman said future cuts could cause restructuring, job losses and the disposal of majors — impacts he said will appear over the next decade. The administration is already considering merging departments and colleges.

"As Maryland has become nationally recognized and increasingly competitive, we need to make sure that we have adequate resources in order to reach the upper echelons of higher learning," he said.

But Glickman didn't mention specific diversity concerns that have arisen as a result of Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity Cordell Black's dismissal.

"Closed-door meetings and uninformed job restructuring does not help our campus become more open and more inclusive," he said but did not elaborate.

Although Glickman described an upcoming SGA event tentatively called the "Multicultural Expo," in which student ethnic and cultural groups will have a week-long opportunity to promote their groups through performances and presentations, Director of Student Groups Kaiyi Xie said this effort is not a result of Black's dismissal.

"This was actually thought up over the summer, this wasn't a direct response [to Black's dismissal]," he said, adding students need to lead in diversity initiatives on the campus.

Glickman also listed this semester's accomplishments, including making October's Crab Fest the university's first zero-waste event and winning the title of America's Greenest Campus. He attributed the high voter turnout at the College Park City Council elections as a result of increased dissemination of candidate information and the SGA's campaign to register students to vote — a success he pinned as proof against supposed student apathy.

He said future projects will include working with state officials to ensure funding for higher education and working with students, faculty and administrators to ensure equitable distribution of resources.

Glickman also wants to review where students are represented at the university and locate places where they aren't and should be.

"This will allow us to better understand not only the decision-making process of this university, but also determine where students can and should have more say," he said. "For all the progress and gains the SGA has made and will continue to make, the state of the campus is unacceptable."

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