BYUSA - How are they spending their money?

Today the Daily Universe published an excellent story on how BYUSA spends its budget money. In the article they state that during a single semester this last year, BYUSA had a budget of $260,000! Where is all this money going?

From the article:

Yet despite the initially rigorous approval process, former BYUSA members say much of the organization’s spending is left up to student discretion — a fact that some feel does not always result in the most worthwhile expenditures.

Clint Peterson, a former executive director of the university’s Student Advisory Council who worked closely with BYUSA, said he estimates only 40 percent of the organization’s expenses go to activities and initiatives that directly benefit students, while the remaining 60 percent are often spent on luxurious, catered banquets, retreats for student leadership and advertising to further promote the organization.

“There are big banquets for leadership at the end of every semester, catered with gourmet three-course meals,” Peterson said. “There is food at every retreat, usually two meals from a nice restaurant. Every expense needs to be approved by faculty within BYUSA, but it seems that everything gets signed off on without any real debate.”

If one of the purposes of BYUSA is to build effective leaders, why are they allowed to spend money unwisely? Our society is already full of leaders who know how to recklessly spend other people's money. We don't need any more of those kind of leaders.

Also:

“As a private university, BYU does not publish or release any budget information,” Ward said in an e-mail. “The BYUSA budget does not come from tithing dollars, but rather from the money that comes in through tuition. This is comparable to other colleges and universities who charge student fees.”

Why are we not getting this money back in the form of reduced tuition? I would like to be able to opt out of contributing to BYUSA, please.

Here is the rest of the article:

How is BYUSA spending student tuition dollars?

P.S. There are several good comments at the bottom of the article from both sides of the issue.

Got Flu?

Hey guys check out this video by our very own BYU students. It is pretty funny. Make sure you watch until the end. I am seeing some parallels with the Count of Monte Cristo here. Enjoy!

500 days of summer.

PROVO. 500 Days of Summer has finally arrived at the dollar theatre so please for your sake go see it. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, and well if I told you what happened you wouldn't want to go see it. You may think it's a love story but I warn you beforehand it's not. I promise all you single people out there that it will leave you with a little bit of hope. The soundtrack to the film is amazing. It features The Temper Trap, The Smiths and Regina Spektor. The DVD comes out in Decemeber 22 so if you are not willing to spend the $1.25 it costs to go see it at the dollar theatre you can always wait and rent it :]

Another Awesome BYU blog

What do BYU people like? General Conference? Playing the Piano? Texting in church? Yes. All of them.

Fellow blogsite stuffbyupeoplelike.blogspot.com covers all these topics and more. The blog could be described as an insightful, sometimes stinging, and extremely funny editorial on BYU student life. Here's a short segment from the latest post about the plethora of students who seem to pretend to be able to play the piano:

"EVERY student at BYU plays the piano.

Not all BYU students play the piano well.

Every BYU student THINKS they play the piano well enough to show off once in a while.

Get used to a whole lot of choppy John Schmidt and Fur Elise.

While there is merit in mastering the timeless instrument, BYU kids only dabble in piano enough so that when they are feeling awkward at a church social or house party they can sit down at a piano bench and whip out a solo to impress the previously-uninterested member of the opposite sex. If you are ever the target of this ploy, do not ask the faux piano player to play more than two songs. They do not know more than two, and you will have shunned their advances by requesting such a thing from them."

...and the post goes on, it's great.

For me personally though, there was a little bit of a back fire when I realized I am one of those that can only play a few songs on the piano, and usually just pretend to... well, nevermind.

Check it out.

stuffbyupeoplelike.blogspot.com

Interesting Facts.

Today I heard someone tell a random fact about the population of Moscow, Russia. I thought, "Who needs to know that?"

My conclusion: Probably the people that study the population of Russia.

Which lead me to another question... what kind of useless facts do I know?

So I thought I would share.

Useless fact #1:
Some farmers in Japan figured out how to grow watermelons in the shapes of rectangles. They did it to conserve shelf space.

Useless fact #2:
25% of BYU students are married. (This made me feel better until I realized that out of the remaining 75% about 60% have significant others... leaving the single population at a dwindling 15%, but enough about that).

Useless fact #3:
Shakespeare was only 18 when he married his wife Ann Hathaway who was 26. (Cougar anyone?)

Useless fact #4:
I know someone that knows someone that was an extra in the Twilight movie. She said that Kristen Stewart is mean. I believe her.

Useless fact #5:
I have met someone that can lick their elbow. It is not impossible.

Useless fact #6:
If you drink ice water your body burns mores calories because it has to warm up the liquid.

Useless fact #7:
During the average lifetime of a man or a woman they will grow 590 miles of hair.

Do you have any random facts that you love?! Let us know.
Feel free to comment.

My favorite time waster would most definitely have to be My Life is Average.

MLIA is one of those websites where anyone can submit a nice little average blurb about their life. But what, you might ask, is the difference between MLIA and FML? Well, on MLIA reader put it this way:

FML is for the "cool" people, who get proposed to with ringpops and hate it, MLIA is for the dorky people who wish they were proposed to like that.

Positive versus negative, if you will.

Here are some of my favorite MLIA



~Today I woke up in bed sleeping horizontally, not vertically. I didn't think about it until I turned my head and saw a note. The note said, "Thank you for your cooperation, sorry we couldn't put you back correctly, but we were pressed for time." This worries me slightly. MLIA.

~Today, I found out that it is illegal to dress up as batman in Australia. My heart goes out to you, Australia. MLIA

~Today, I was talking to my bestfriends younger sister. During a game of 20 Questions I asked her what her 3 weapons would be during a zombie invasion. Her answer was "Jesus, Dumbledore, and Chuck Norris". My best friend doesn't know this, but he's that much closer to being replaced. MLIA


And while we're laughing, check out Awkward Family Photos.

long time no post

Wednesdays are my days to post about media and some sort of communication so this week I'm blogging about one of my favorite comedians. I was first introduced to Bill Cosby on FoxFamily when they played re-runs of The Cosby Show (bloopers). Its hillarious!!

It's clean and full of good family fun. Not too many shows like this one i think, and its too bad