Error leads to 'blessing'

Originally published: Sept. 9, 2010
Publication: THE GLOBE

With an excess of cash due to an error in the budget finances last year, United Student Government leaders purchased items such as office supplies, a camera and board games.

Also among the purchases was the sponsorship of a multi-purpose room in the Student and Convocation Center, the financing of a blow-up game for Point Park University's 50th anniversary and red bins for residential halls.

"It was just leftover, kind of a miscommunication, clerical error kind of thing," said Cassidy Adkins, USG vice president. "And it was a really unfortunate happenstance, but it ended up kind of a blessing in disguise because we ended up having all of this money we didn't realize we had to spend on things we otherwise might not have seen as something that we needed to spend money on. So having it leftover gave us a little bit of freedom to get some of the stuff we had been kind of putting aside but finally had the ability to do."


The new Student Organizations Office, located in the Student and Convocation Center, was one of the locations that received the benefits of the items bought.

"They have two computers in the office, they have two desks, there's a meeting space where they have different tables," said Michael Potoczny, USG president. 

Office supplies, such as pens and staplers, were also purchased.

"We bought similar supplies like Sharpies, printing supplies [and] computers for that room so organizations can print out fliers without having to use their own printing credits, and those kinds things to make their lives a little bit easier and kind of lighten the load," Adkins said. "I know a lot of people who are presidents or are on the executive cabinets of clubs will sometimes take money out of their own pockets to pay for that stuff because it's just easier and that kind of takes that burden off of them".

Adkins feels that these purchases would be a benefit to students, as well.

"I think that the best way to have a great college experience is to get involved in a bunch of different things and maybe seeing that these clubs have all these resources they can do more things now that will make people go ‘Aw, hey, I want to join that,' because it looks like they're really doing something effective that they might not have been able to do before because they didn't have the resources," Adkins said.
Another USG-sponsored addition came in the form of a multi-purpose room in the Student and Convocation Center.

"The multi-purpose room is on the second floor and it's where there is going to be Zumba, aerobics classes, and what we paid for is a lot of the sound system and cleaning up the room and a lot of the materials in the room," Potoczny said.

The multi-purpose room is an awaited feature for some students.

"We are really looking forward to the aerobic classes," said Lindsey Sherman, a freshman acting major.

While some of the items purchased focused on Point Park's new building, others centered on the older, but not forgotten ones.

USG bought nine board games: Apples to Apples, Clue, Scrabble, Quelf, Trivial Puruit, Things, Monopoly, Balderdash, and Pictionary. Three are for Conestoga Hall, three are for Pioneer Hall and three are for the Boulevard Apartments. According to Potoczny, the games will rotate to a different building every month.

Also among the purchases for residential hall life were the three new red bins, used for moving in and out of the residential halls.

"USG actually purchased all of the original red bins, and some broke, some I don't know what happened, but they asked for some more and we had some money left and we said, ‘Oh, we'll buy you three more red bins,'" Potoczny said. "I think it's a good thing because not only do they use them for move in, move out, student organizations also use them to move, say if they're having a gala, the TV and games up to a different room or where they are holding the activity. So it's a good thing because all the school really uses those red bins and it helps everybody out."

Other summer purchases centered on student activities, including Point Park's 50th Anniversary Celebration. According to Potoczny, USG was asked to sponsor one of the blow-up games for the carnival.

For other future activities, USG bought a camera.

"It's for any student organization," Potoczny said.  "If you're having an event or if you're having a speaker and you want to take some photos and you don't have a nice camera, we can provide it for you. And also, USG will be using it when we hold events, meetings to put up on our website and also for like an archive to see past people. We also keep headshots of everybody on here, on USG, so that way we have the tools to do it."

"That's what the money should be spent on," sophomore sport, arts and entertainment major Surrae Schotts said about the summer purchases. "That's what the money is put there for."

All of these summer purchases were made using the leftover budget money from last year. According to Potoczny, the available money was around $38,000, but he estimates that around $13,000 was left over by the end of the summer. That remainder was put back into the general university fund.

"It was a little unusual, because there was a slight error in finances, but it actually gave us a lot of room to work with the student organization office and I feel we did a lot of great things over the summer with this money," Potoczny said.

The purchases themselves, however, were not rushed.

"Every purchase that was made was done very sensibly," Adkins said. "There was a lot of comparing prices, there was a lot of finding the best value for what we were buying. There was no frivolity and ‘Okay. Let's just pick this one.' It was all very thought out, very well planned."

Error leads to 'blessing'