IUSA controversy: The real conflict of interest

The words and actions of the Congressional committee chairs during Tuesday’s hearing related to the GPS bus system both indicate that the IU Student Association feels its current and former executives were wrongfully accused of acting illegally and unethically. Being in a position where I have access to internal files and information, I had already felt the accusations were at best questionable and at worst outright lies. Prior to the hearing, however, I did not realize IUSA and Student Organization Accounts had already conducted such extensive audits.

I found out Tuesday that receipts covering all the IU disbursements for the GPS bus tracker indicate that no one made a dime off the IU system or IU funds.

While I had not known or communicated specific details to the petitioners, I had informed one of the petitioners of an SOA audit and that no profits had been generated a week before the petition was circulated. The petitioner either blatantly ignored looking into these important items or did look into them and continued despite knowledge of them.  

Rekhter worked hard to bring Zipcar and Zimride to IU. He did the same in developing a bus tracking system. I bring this up to help clear his name and so others are not blinded by the allegations in the coming elections. I do not discredit any ticket in this election nor do I encourage you to.

Go out and research the platform issues, gauge the real impact they can have, and vote for who you think would be best for the student body and IUSA — the organization which connects and fights for us all.

John Gillard
is a former historian and current research specialist for the IU Student Association.