Madeleine Van Haute
Layout Editor
You never realize how much you love your job or how important it is until it’s threatened. Granted, my job has not actually been threatened (yet), but there have been recent events that have led me to believe that I have reason to worry.
I was informally invited to partake in the FUSG constitutional convention Sunday to represent Exc!te, seeing as I work for Exc!te as the vice president of marketing and media.
One of the many points brought up in the hour and a half conversation that concerned me was the fact that some people don’t see how Exc!te is geared towards hosting events in the student body’s best interests.
I made a point to disagree with this statement, seeing as Exc!te has made a great effort to welcome and support student event proposals. The Franciscan Voice is a fantastic example. A student came to us with the idea of hosting a karaoke competition and we were able to use our expertise to help. We have now hosted the event twice and have plans to talk about continuing the event in future years.
All Exc!te meetings are open: Wednesdays at 11 a.m. in the St. Margaret room. We function this way for a reason; we want student input! What is the point of hosting multiple events a semester if it’s not for the good of the student body and cultivating community on campus?
Alex McKenna also said that he has no interest in repeating history by absorbing Exc!te back into FUSG, but I cannot say that I fully believe his statement.
A little bit of school history: at one point Exc!te, at the time the Student Activity Board, was under FUSG and was removed in 2006. Since then the two have been separate entities. This change greatly benefitted Exc!te and granted the organization a larger budget, giving us the ability to host large events.
If Exc!te was to be absorbed back into FUSG, the budget we have now would not be promised to us. The large scale events we host now would have to be smaller. No free alcohol, no live band, no t-shirt toss, etc. All of the elements that make our events what they are would be gone.
Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but the classic or “historical” events that Exc!te hosts are some of the biggest, if not the biggest, events on campus; Festa D’Italia, Irish Fest, Pajama Rama, etc. What would our campus look like without these events?
FUSG was not established for throwing large events. It is meant to promote and support club activity, which is interesting considering all club budget proposals were cut by 50% on average at the end of last semester.
Frankly, I find it embarrassing that I’m putting in this much effort to tell my side of a story regarding political drama that no one outside of FUSG or Exc!te cares about. It’s also embarrassing that I’m giving FUSG this much attention.
Exc!te is not the most well-known organization on campus. From a business standpoint, this is an issue, but from a personal standpoint, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, I know the work I’m putting into this job is important and molds the campus community into what it is, whether people recognize it or not.