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Thursday the Marquette Student Government voted 23-3 to elect former MUSG senator and Parliamentarian Tim Smith as the 2007-'08 MUSG financial vice president.

The MUSG financial vice president serves as the chairman of the MUSG budget committee and thus plays a role in creating the budget. He is also a voting member of the Student Organization Allocations committee, creates and reviews financial statements and represents the financial office at executive board meetings.

Smith, a College of Business Administration junior, was nominated by a committee including current MUSG Financial Vice President Kori Fojtik, MUSG President Dan Calandriello, Assistant Dean of the Office of Student Development Jon Dooley, Marquette Acting Comptroller Dennis Butler, one MUSG senator and one student at large.

After being selected by the committee, Smith sat before the senate where he spoke about why he wanted to be the financial vice president and was questioned by the senators.

Two themes of the questioning included Smith's comments about looking into spending the MUSG Reserve Fund and providing leniency to granting extensions of SOA deadlines to student organizations.

"The senators always intensely question the potential vice presidents and Tim will work close with the finances," said Calandriello, a College of Business Administration senior. "Plus finances are an important topic. Tim will be an excellent addition to our staff and will help us be better stewards of the student activity fee."

Fojtik agreed, saying, "Tim is extremely qualified and a hard worker and should do a fantastic job."

After approbing Smith, the MUSG senate welcomed him with a standing ovation.

Despite Smith's comments about the reserve fund and SOA, the senators were told to "take a breath and think long term about finances," by Dooley at the conclusion of the meeting.

"Instead of immediately spending money try to think long term and make a big investment instead," Dooley said. "That's my advice at least."

Though Smith was elected last week he does not officially take office until Jan. 15. Fojtik, College of Business Administration senior, will remain in the MUSG office until Feb. 15 to help with the transition.

Along with training Smith, Fojtik's last responsibility will be to aid in the MUSG audit that occurs every February.

"MUSG is audited every year as a sort of control to make sure everything is done properly and to prevent financial scandals," Fojtik said.

According to Calandriello, Fojtik has done a "great job as the MUSG Financial Vice President."

"I'm very happy with the job Kori did," he said. "She has made great decisions despite it being a tough year for the financial department of MUSG, as it has been scrutinized for its decisions regarding the Reserve Fund and SOA. I think she did a great job with SOA and the increasing numbers of student organizations."

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