By Jeanine Poggi
The Appropriations Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA), which funds student organizations, does not have enough money in their budget to continue to adequately support clubs.
Michelle Yu, chairperson of the committee, asked for extra funding at an SGA Senate meeting Tuesday night. With 17 new clubs this year, equaling a total of over 80 under SGA jurisdiction, it has become harder to give every club the money they need.
“Clubs come asking for money, and present thousands of great ideas, complete with Web sites and receipts to back them up, but we do not have the money to give them,” she said. “The programs that they want money for will make the campus and SGA better as a whole.” Currently, there is a full list of clubs signed up to request more money at the next appropriations meeting, Yu said.
Representatives from some of these clubs, such as Entertainment Unlimited, the African Caribbean Society and National Society of Black Engineers, attended Tuesdays meeting to present their ideas and help fight for more money.
At the meeting, a question was raised as to why clubs aren’t being allocated equal funding. One senator said, it seems as though some larger clubs are receiving more than some smaller ones.
“New smaller clubs, should not be granted the same amount of money as clubs that have been around for years,” Yu said.
Some clubs need more money for insurance, equipment, have more members and serve a larger body of the University, she said.
Senators questioned the work of appropriations, wondering if they are correctly divying funds.
“No one has ever objected to our minutes or how much money we are giving out,” Yu said. “But now that we are asking for more, people have issues with it and are complaining. Why wasn’t something said before?”
SGA had approximately $33,000, in its contingency, in September, with a promise from Campus Life that they would receive $30,000 more from helping to fund kick-off weekend.
The rest of the money, however, was not received until recently, so it could not be put into use, he said.
Even with the $30,000, appropriations does not have a lot left, Sen. Bradly Smallberg said.
“We have had the same budget since 1982,” he said. “Prices have gone up since 1982. I wasn’t even born in 1982. If I give you a dollar today, it won’t be worth a dollar tomorrow.”
The Appropriations Committee wants to speak to the University Senate to ask for more money.
John Whitcomb, SGA president, said attempts have been made in the past to get more money from the University Senate.
“It is a constant battle,” he said. “There is always an attempt, but it is always shot down by the University.”
It is not really up to the University Senate to give us more money, they are just acting as a liaison to President Rabinowitz, who makes the final decision, Whitcomb said.
“The budget is made three years in advance, so it is not likely SGA will receive money now,” he said.
Whitcomb said, their only possibility is to put in a proposal to raise activities funds, which is currently $600,000 a year.
Smallberg, however, believes there is another answer.
SGA has money in more than one account. Appropriations is only allowed to give out what is in contingency, unless the president of SGA allows them to use money in other accounts.
Smallberg along with Sen. Yu and Sen. Andy Valentin, proposed to cancel the SGA spring retreat and formal in order to use the money from those accounts to aid student funds.
“Organizations can’t do anything unless we help them,” Yu said.
Other senators feel that appropriations should not receive more money to distribute.
Senators accused appropriations for not advising clubs on fund raising and how to spend their money.
Smallberg said it is up to the Internal Review and Control board (IRC), not appropriations, to monitor clubs and organizations spending.
The IRC, however, is not following transactions, and no club has been audited this year, he said.
“I found out that some clubs are not using funds appropriately,” Smallberg said. “It is against our constitution for clubs to have petty cash, but I found some clubs that have over a $1000 in it.”
None of the members of IRC can do anything about this. The only person who can is Comptroller, James Wilson, Smallberg said.
“He can freeze their funds, but nothing is being done,” he said. “Wilson said it will be handled at a later date, but it’s already March.”
“I didn’t know any club is in suspect of having petty cash,” Wilson said. “If I knew of a club doing it, I would do my constitutional duty and freeze their budget.”
Smallberg believes a running theme of SGA has been, “Why should we do it this way when it has never been done like that before?”
“No one person is at fault,” he said. “We should all be blamed as a whole, because we are not willing to stand up and do things that haven’t been done. Now that we are tight on money, it is time something is finally done.”