A former gubernatorial candidate dropped in at last night’s
brief A.S. Council meeting to provide his own two cents about financial
difficulties facing students.

Earl Warren
College alumnus Daniel Watts took
the floor during public input to speak about the Grove Caffe’s monetary woes. Watts
suggested that the council dig into its mandated reserves — an “emergency fund”
for A.S. enterprises-in-need that he said was holding a tidy $800,000 — to buy
out the eatery’s $66,000 debt.

There wasn’t a discernible consensus among councilmembers
about the suggestion, although the thought of spending $66,000 on a coffee shop
may have shocked any uninitiated Starbucks customers in attendance.

Associate Vice President of Enterprise Operations Chelsea Maxwell
elaborated on the cafe’s financial health, saying that necessary improvements
and equipment purchases were to blame for the growth of its original $24,000
debt at the beginning of the school year.

Vice President of Finance and Resources Sarah Chang also
chimed in, saying that the Grove is now either breaking even or turning a
profit on a monthly basis, and implied that the cafe would be able to work off
its own debt. Buyer beware: That $66,000 may be coming to a croissant near you.

Watts, who graduated in 2006, also
took the opportunity to tout his unsuccessful campaign for California
governor during the 2003 recall election. His gubernatorial ambitions focused
solely on the issue of rising college tuition costs, which has come into the
mainstream news once again in light of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recently
proposed state budget cuts.

Watts endorsed the efforts of the
student group Tuition Relief Now to put an initiative on the ballot in November
that would cap tuition from rising
faster than inflation.

Vice President of External Affairs Dorothy Young kept the
cause of rising tuition afloat by introducing the council to the “budget
postcard campaign,” which aims to bombard state legislators with signed
postcards from concerned students. During question time, Earl Warren College
Senator Peter Benesch asked Vice President of Student Life Donna Bean about how
the planning process for next quarter’s Sun God festival was progressing.
Benesch raised the question in light of a controversial report regarding the
handling of the annual event.

Bean was pleased to report that the Sun God advisory
committee had surprisingly reached a consensus between its administrators and
student representatives. She also reported that the logistics for the event had
been reworked but teased the council by saying that she couldn’t release any
more information, including the headliner act, for a few more weeks.

Near the end of the meeting, Associate Vice President of
Athletic Relations Stephanie Chang reminded councilmembers about their upcoming
participation in the Row for the Cure fundraising and boat racing event this
weekend and caught some of the students off guard by asking them to sign some
last-minute paperwork.

“You just need to sign a form that says if you drown it’s
not our fault,” she said.