On Friday, President Fogel was quoted in The Burlington Free Press as saying, “We need to run a tighter ship,” in reference to the University’s lax money management as of late. Fogel made this remark following the Board of Trustees meeting, where the financial state of the University was central to the discussion.

This understatement follows the embarrassment of last spring’s misallocation of $5 million in university funds by then Vice President J. Michael Gower.

Gower has since resigned from his position, an obvious move in response to such a large financial slip-up.

Being students of this University, some of who pay for their tuition wholly or partially from their own pockets, hearing news of these gigantic financial mistakes can come across as just plain insulting.

It’s a struggle for some to even afford college, and for all it’s a significant investment. To hear that the money we blindly expected to be invested with the best intentions for improving our education is being “misallocated” means our trust in the University is waning.

Furthermore, the fact that the University just stumbled onto $14 million dollars that had been accumulating since before VSAC is good news, but it also brings a troublesome thought: who exactly is watching our money?

The University’s accounting practices need some serious upgrades; this isn’t a call for just running a “tighter ship.” This is a call for a complete overhaul.

As students, we trust the administration with our money so that we can reward the University by focusing on our studies and building a better reputation for the school as a whole. It’s not fair to sell us short and throw our money around haphazardly.

Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

Students pay the University expecting the best education money can buy. We hope that the administration can learn from their recently lax money management and quickly restore the trust and faith that is needed to maintain a top-level public university.