According to a budget document obtained by BYU's newspaper, the Daily Universe, BYUSA had spent hundreds of dollars on questionable purchases for themselves. Their expenses ranged from several small payments at Jamba Juice to over $1,000 spent at Olive Garden. There were trips to Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, Tucano's, a go-karting track, an Alpine skiing resort, as well as laundry expenses.
After these allegations arose, BYUSA volunteers and supporters put on their biggest and brightest smiles and began tossing out talking points, dodging questions, and hoping the controversy would go away. Students were upset. Activists organized. Divine Comedy put out a humorous satirical video.
In the real world, this kind of thing happens all the time as watchdog journalists and whistleblowers uncover unethical activities. It usually results in people being fired, sued, sent to prison, or not getting re-elected though. For everyone involved in "BYUSA-gate", none of those things will happen. We'll all go on our way and get a quality education at a remarkable price. In the larger scheme of things, BYUSA's misuse of student tuition dollars doesn't make that much of a difference. There are much larger examples of questionable spending in the world. Does that mean we should just shut up, move on, and forget about it like BYUSA and some within the administration want us to? Absolutely not.
It is unethical for a student service organization with a budget made of student tuition dollars to spend money the way BYUSA has. And others agree.
"I do not think those expenses are ethical," said Sterling May, BYUSA's Vice President elect and brother of current President Elise May.
I'm glad someone agrees with me. Jon Kau, Associate Dean of Students doesn't. In my conversation with him, he not only said that the questionable spending was ethical, but he said that I didn't know the whole story. When I asked what the whole story was, he wouldn't tell me.
With an attitude like that, this controversy will never completely go away. BYUSA's reputation will remain damaged (although I'm pretty sure University Towing is still ranked higher in the "Things BYU Students Dislike Poll") and these allegations will continue. The only way BYUSA can effectively deal with this controversy is to be up front and honest. The Vice President elect is able to admit that the organization has had some unethical spending, why can't anyone else? I guarantee that BYUSA’s spending isn't as horrible and corrupt as some people think it is, and by being transparent, the organization can show that.
