After spending $405.31 for stress balls, $565.56 for frisbees and $604.54 for zipper wallets during fall quarter, the Warren College Student Council enacted a spending freeze on Feb. 13 due to money mismanagement. As a result, other Warren student organizations will not receive key funding while the WCSC attempts to figure out how much money is in its budget.

It is completely reprehensible that the WCSC was so irresponsible with its funds. The trouble has been blamed on a misunderstanding of the amount of money available to the council at the beginning of the year. But if it was unclear how much money was in the council’s budget in the beginning of the year, council members should have been more careful about what was spent.

Also, this confusion would not have arisen had the council kept better track of its spending. It is always important for an organization, especially one that is designed to benefit students, to carefully document how much money is being spent and what it is actually being used for. Balancing a checkbook is a skill that most have mastered by the time they reach college. More responsibility is expected of the WCSC, and it is certainly owed to the students of Earl Warren College.

Furthermore, over $3,000 of the money spent this year did not benefit student life. The WCSC should only be spending money on projects and organizations that will benefit student life at Warren college. Frisbees, retreats and stress balls can, in moderation, foster a sense of community and enable beneficial council communication — but the excesses the council displayed are frivolous expenses that should never have been made, especially if the council was unsure of how much money it had at its disposal.

Although it should never have come to this state of affairs, the WCSC was right to freeze its spending until it is more familiar with the limits of its budget. However, the council should not ask for a fee referendum until it gets its financial affairs in order and can prove that it will be more responsible with its money. The WCSC needs to get a firmer hold on the money it already has before it can even think of asking for more.