Student body officers will now have the chance to go to a leadership conference in Champagne, Ill., this summer, thanks to an appropriations request passed by your very own Student Senate on March 26.

The cost: a mere $3,450 or more than the budget of 86 student organizations for the entire 2002-03 year. That’s $1,150 per person. But the cost of seeing your student body officers become better leaders? Priceless.

Or so the Senate would have you think by funding a trip that it most likely would never have considered, much less funded, for another student organization. True, the Senate does fund many organizations for conferences and off-campus training, but the Senate should be more fiscally responsible than the rest of the school.

The outrageous amount funded for the conference, called LeaderSHAPE, includes airfare, registration and lodging for the week-long affair. Not only did the Senate decide to fund the conference, but it overruled its own appropriations committee to do so for the first time all year – a committee that is comprised mostly of non-Senate members. Coincidence? Probably not.

The appropriations committee ruled to fund for one person in full to attend the conference because the whole goal of sending another representative was to get the university’s delegation up to 10 from nine. By doing so, the university can bid to host the conference in future years. Apparently, the conference will bring the university prestige. The student body officers will benefit and will bring the skills they learn to train others.

All this may be true. But at the asking price of $3,450, from our student fees, for only three students – thanks, but no thanks.

The appropriations committee should be commended for at least trying to understand and funding one person. But by ignoring the committee, the Senate essentially slapped them in the face, sending 12 people to a conference which only needed 10.

Leadership training is important, and God knows the Senate can use a whole lot of it – any SMU student can. But there are other, more cost-effective options – options that Senate has constantly preached other student organizations explore to save money and be frugal. The Senate spends hours scrutinizing every bill that comes through its meetings – a process that is worthwhile and often results in student organizations actually seeking every possible avenue for funding before it comes to Senate.

It is a good practice, one that produces results and the Senate should be commended for it. Organizations now know better than to go before Senate without seeking outside funding for programs and conferences.

But for its own internal funding, it almost unanimously voted to fund in full, without a system of checks and balances. It funded in full with the knowledge that more convenient and cost-effective conferences are out there. For instance, the Leadership Consultant Council offers the Crain Leadership Conference in the fall, which was explicitly created to address leadership training needs on campus.

Another senator even researched what other summer conferences are out there for leadership training – training that was even more specific to student government. And it was a lot cheaper, starting with NACA at $430 per person for registration this summer. Who would have thought of such novel ideas to save money and still get valuable training? Apparently not your Student Senate.