We have to offer kudos where it’s deserved.

In the past few weeks, the Student and Incidental Fees Committee and the Associated Students of Oregon State University have continued to discuss the next step in student fee-funded programs.

Though three departments—performing arts, the Student Sustainability Initiative and ASOSU’s own budget over SafeRide expansion concerns—saw stalls when the joint session went into mediation last Wednesday, we’re glad to say the situation concluded well Monday night.

We saw some of the same arguments going toward SafeRide’s expansion, along with additional comment that did not deny how ASOSU representatives were searching for some “wiggle room” in other budgets that could have instead gone toward SafeRide.

We commend this transparency.

The SSI budget did not take long to approve following discussions, and the performing arts budget still passed with a majority vote following debate on whether or not mock trial should receive any student fee dollars.

We commend Mykael Moore, speaker of the House at ASOSU, for keeping the meeting on track when she recognized any tangents and derailments.

But this isn’t the end.

The budgets will now move to the desk of ASOSU president Cassie Huber, who was not in attendance at the mediation hearing. If she wanted to, she could veto any of the budgets and send the process back into mediation.

As the SIFC and ASOSU House of Representatives have already reached an agreement on the recommendations after hearing all sides on the matter, we’re confident Huber will make the right decision in regards to moving the process forward.

Finally, we commend the hard work from the SIFC members. The student fee process is no easy task, and they continue to demonstrate their expertise with an exceptional amount of concern in regards to merely letting money pass into sectors that it should not.

As for student government overall, take note:

There are students, staff, faculty and community members outside of your own organization who are watching your decisions and want to speak out in regards to what should be done during these processes.

The decisions that ASOSU makes could impact the university and local communities for many years to come.

Editorials serve as a platform for Barometer editors to offer commentary and opinions on current events, both global and local, grand in scale and diminutive. The opinions expressed here are a reflection of the editorial board’s majority.