Why isn’t MCSC angry?

Does it strike anyone else as odd that although the Multicultural Student Coalition received only about half of the budget it requested, the group’s leaders are still “generally pleased” with the budget?

Tshaka Barrows is quoted in Thursday’s Herald as saying, “There are some areas [of the budget] where I was hoping to get a little more.” A little more? The man wanted twice as much money as he received.

If the amount of money requested were truly necessary to improve campus diversity, I would expect to see an irate Barrows, an upset Barrows, a “We need this money to increase diversity” Barrows. Instead, we get a satisfied Barrows.

I get the impression the wool was being pulled over our eyes on this one. The MCSC was clearly abusing the system. It requested an outrageous amount of money and banked that the Student Services Finance Committee, instead of eliminating the MCSC’s entire budget for the attempted abuse, would give a “compromise” — one that would make “everyone” happy.

Well done, Barrows. I hope you’re not out there protesting when tuition goes up to cover your group’s outrageous abuse.

Ryan Hurtado, UW junior