By Nathan Schmidt
This week, a disastrous series of budget talks in the FUSA senate led to a complete shutdown of the student government.
The shutdown came after a major partisan conflict between the Committee on Academic Support & Retention and the Committee on Diversity & Inclusion over the next budget plan. Following numerous failed attempts at compromise, and with no other recourse, the entire government has been suspended in its functions, leading all FUSA activities to be suspended until further notice.
The list of consequences from the shutdown is long and severe. All events managed or sponsored by FUSA will receive no funding and will likely be canceled entirely, especially glow bowling. FUSA government employees have all been furloughed, much to the consternation of their families. Most worryingly for other students, FUSA’s subordinate group COSO will not distribute any money for budgetary purposes to student groups. Until the shutdown ends, the campus newspaper The Mirror will be forced to print its new editions on the backs of used printer paper.
“Well, this is what we get for letting FUSA mimic the real government,” said a rueful Leonard Arroyo ‘20, who has spectated numerous FUSA senate meetings since his first year at Fairfield. “We pretty much earned it.”
There is no telling how long the shutdown will last, especially since an oversight in FUSA’s structural regulations has resulted in the senate being unable to officially convene to end the shutdown for as long as it is in effect. Nevertheless, the rest of the student body in Fairfield will be forced to press on, leaderless and unrepresented, through the latter portion of the spring 2019 semester.
At press time, a group of students wearing Guy Fawkes masks was protesting with hand-painted signs outside the unoccupied FUSA office in the Barone Campus Center.
Stagnation 