SGA gains control of $1.8 million in student activity fees
October 28, 2009 by CAROLYN CRIST
Filed under News
Now the Student Government Association can decide where your money goes.
Starting in the spring, SGA will allocate the student activity fee. A committee of students will distribute all-campus allocations, which involves large groups such as University Union, Black Affairs Council and Intramural Sports. The responsibility comes with a $1.8 million price tag that is divvied up among about 50 organizations for programming. This does not include the clubs that get funding from colleges on campus.
The committee, previously composed of Campus Life Business Office staff members, will draw 10 students from leadership positions across campus – five SGA senators, one graduate student and four students from Campus Life, Intercultural Affairs and Recreational Sports within the Department of Student Affairs. The committee will be selected this semester, undergo educational training about budgeting in January, conduct hearings of the student groups in March and submit a budget recommendation to Student Affairs in April.
For SGA President Katie Barlow, this is the main reason she, Vice President Cameron Secord and Treasurer Joe Chaudoin ran for their positions last spring.
“Our original thought was that SGA, elected by students, should actively participate in how students’ money is used,” she said. “Handling this responsibility and working with student groups holds us directly accountable. SGA should not be a popularity contest, as some seem to think.”
The SGA administration began working with Rodney Bennett, vice president for student affairs, in May to determine the logistics of transferring power. They submitted a final proposal to Bennett on Monday to request the “jurisdiction to create and chair an allocation committee” for the activity fee. Bennett approved the request Monday “after careful consideration and months of discussions.”
“During the campaign, they approached me as candidates and asked about this as a possibility,” Bennett said Tuesday. “I believed in their vision, skill set and determination. Of all the SGA administrations, they are the best suited to create and carry out this committee.”
SGA and Bennett will evaluate the process in the spring to determine whether future administrations can handle the task.
“Both sides will go into this with good faith to determine the skill sets SGA will need to do this in the future,” Bennett said. “I want this to be successful, so we’re taking a chance to see what happens. But they’ll have to be honest about what it was like and the level of commitment and time it takes.”
With the increase in responsibility, there’s no room for favoritism or bias, Barlow said.
“There’s a percent limit for a budget increase or decrease for the groups. With budget cuts the way they are, I can’t imagine it would be more than a couple [of percentage points],” she said. “We can’t take half of the funding from one group and give it to another. This will keep us accountable and help with the election process in general. If you care about your funding and get pissed, then vote.”
The switchover won’t affect the application process for groups who have applied in the past, Bennett said. He sent an e-mail to student group leaders Tuesday afternoon about the change, and SGA will explain more details in the coming weeks.
“My hope and what convinced me to do this on a trial and evaluation basis was the belief that it’ll create greater involvement with students on campus,” Bennett said. “More involved students perform better, are more engaged and more connected to the institution. This will show students how the University operates, how dollars are collected and how they’re distributed.”
