With 22 letters revealing the outcome of appeals for funding from the Student Budget Committee in the mail, the long wait is almost over for student organizations on campus.
“It’s just been really frustrating in waiting for the letter,” said Steven Collins, treasurer of Vision, one of 22 groups who appealed SBC’s original funding decision. “We don’t really expect to get much out of the appeal [process], we’re just waiting to get it.”
Groups will most likely be disappointed by the results, given that in a year where more than $1 million was requested– with a $610, 862 budget for SBC– approximately $10,000 was available for appeals, Overland said.
Student organizations who appealed include: University Activities Organization, Graduate Student Senate, Vision, WFAL, WBGU, Dry Dock, the Black Student Union and University Ambassadors.
“I used all the money available for appeals, but it certainly was not enough to fit the requests,” Overland said.
But the overall theme behind the appeals wasn’t against anything SBC did or didn’t do in the decision process, said Overland, who is responsible for reviewing each appeal and making the final decisions.
“Essentially the theme was ‘we’d like more money,'” she said. “People proposed budgets that there just wasn’t the money for [this year]. I didn’t get the sense that SBC did a bad job. [Student organizations] just wanted to get more funds.”
Meeting with staff members of the Office of Campus Involvement many student leaders, like Treasurer of Vision Steven Collins, realized that the funding issue runs deeper than just SBC.
“We discovered it wasn’t just [SBC] being stickLers with their money,” he said.
This realization, for some, is hard to swallow.
“I think it’s very disappointing that the University is not supporting SBC with funds for everyone,” said Kelly Fink, general manager of WFAL. “I’m not pointing the finger at anyone, but not everyone’s needs can be met when not enough money is being given to SBC.”
According to Fink, the cuts that were made to their budget this year are “detrimental” to their health as an organization. WFAL saw cuts to their annual conference, money for promotional items and giveaways and received no funding to hold events on or off-campus.
“We’d like to see an increase, but not because we feel like we’re the best organization on campus,” she said. “We feel that all of our requests are justified to survive as an organization.”
Unlike other organizations, WFAL wasn’t asked to prioritize their own budget in front of SBC to help in determining what areas could be cut. But if they had been asked, according to Fink, there would be no room for cuts in their budget.
“If there was any place to [make cuts], there wouldn’t be any cuts,” she said.
Below are the requests of various student organizations (arranged in alphabetical order) and the funding amount recommended by SBC for the 2004-2005 academic year. These figures do not represent changes with appeals. Final decisions on appeals, submitted by 22 student organizations, were mailed to groups yesterday.
Organization Amount Requested Amount Allotted
Academic Quiz Team $2,000 $1,820
Actuarial Science Society $1,000 $385
African Amer. Grad. Stu. Assoc. $6, 060 $5, 060
African Brain Gain $3, 450 $1,800
African People’s Association $18, 500 $2,000
Alpha Eta Rho $4,320 $1, 437
Alpha Phi Omega $7, 742 $3, 712
American Chemical Society $1, 831 $1, 536
American Inst. of Architecture $2,200 $2, 520
American Marketing Assoc. $4, 200 $4, 200
American Society for Quality $2, 850 $1, 470
Anime $900 $900
Arnold Air Society $3, 100 $ 2, 350
Asian Communities United $5, 420 $4, 877
Assoc. for Computing Mach. $510 $200
BACCHUS/GAMMA $4, 900 $4, 850
Ballroom Dance Society $2,000 $1, 500
BAMN $4,000 $2, 275
BG 24 News $30, 000 $21, 350
BG Radio News $10, 295 $9, 595
BG Radio Sports $7,110 $5, 200
BG TECA $3, 052 $2, 313
BGSDA $1, 330 $1,330
Biology Grad. Student Assoc. $10, 631 $2, 000
Black Intellects Group $2, 000 $0
Black Student Union $23,277 $10, 167
Carribean Association $5, 700 $4, 250
Ceramics Organization $2, 000 $1, 500
Chess Club $3, 112 $940
Chinese Club $520 $519
Chinese Student Scholars $9, 400 $8, 260
Clarinet Studio 1054 $2, 000 $2, 000
Club Baseball $2, 000 $2, 000
Club Espanol $990 $750
College Democrats $2, 785 $2, 385
College of Tech Ambassadors $2, 000 $985
College Republicans $7, 250 $5, 250
Computer Art Club $8, 115 $3, 905
Creative Minds Movement $8,331 $6,000
Criminal Justice Organization $270 $270
Cru $51,522 $12,000
Dance Marathon $23,390 $5,338
Dry Dock $27,950 $0
Economics Club $1,305 $955
English Grad. Student Org. $1,190 $790
Environmental Action Grp. $7,100 $2,990
Environ. Health Student Grp. $1,910 $1,560
Falcons For Life $937 $405
Fencing Club $7, 515 $5,265
Fighting Falcon Battalion $23,156 $15,540
Fighting Falcon Squadron $2,200 $2,200
Financial Management Assoc. $3,696 $1,771
For Your Intertainment $2,000 $0
French Club $2,380 $935
German Club $3,200 $2,253
Gospel Choir $16,544 $12,515
Grad. Art Organization $6,000 $4,000
Grad. Student Senate $30,758 $15,805
Graphic Design Club $2,590 $1,740
Habitat for Humanity $3,505 $200
Higher Ed Doctoral Students $2,000 $1,900
Hillel $ 1,444 $ 874
History Society $ 3,502 $ 2,651
Honors Student Association $17,905 $7,645
India Student Association $12,650 $5,270
International Business $2,490 $0
International Relations $1,705 $705
Interpersonal Communications %2,000 $1,715
Intramural Advisory Board $2,035 $2,000
Japanese Club $3,286 $2,471
Juntos $6,610 $0
Kenya 5K Run Club $7,000 $2,000
Key Yearbook $9,775 $5,880
Kinesiology Club $810 $60
Latino Cultural Arts Committee $3,800$3,100
Latino Student Union $24,850 $18,365
Latter Day Saints $230 $230
Law Society $1,000 $1,000
Marine Biology Association $1,125 $1,125
MBA Association $2,000 $1,698
Men’s Club Volleyball $2,500 $2,500
Men’s Ice Hockey $5,000 $5,000
Men’s Lacrosse $2,000 $2,000
Men’s Rugby $4,525 $4,465
Men’s Track and Field $4,600 $0
Musician’s Guild $3,000 $2,600
NAACP $2,296 $1,996
National Student Speech and Hearing $2,000$1,670
Native American Unity Council $7,265$4,475
Organization for Women’s Issues $4,025$3,525
Outdoor Program Adventure Club $2,240$2,000
Phi Beta Sigma $7,200$4,352
Phi Sigma Pi $1990$1,220
Philosophy Club $1,945$1,305
Pi Kappa Delta $1,000 $200
Precept $1,97541,975
Public Relations $2,025$2,000
Real Life $4,000$2,000
Russian Club $1,726 $895
Society for Success and Leadership $5,250$4,000
Society of Human Resource Mgmt. $3,083$2,000
Sociology Graduate Student $5,900$5,900
Sport Management Alliance $1,650 $0
Student Information Tech $1,350$1,250
Synchronized Skating $2,000$2,000
Theta Alpha Phi $8,195$6,645
TINT Magazine $1,000$1,000
Tri-Beta $1,050 $340
Ultimate Frisbee $1,260$1,260
Undergraduate Gerontology $1,675 $945
Undergraduate Student Government $26,945 $25,388
University Activities Organization $234,345 $145,793
University Ambassadors $6,475 $5,825
University Dance Alliance $2,240$2,240
University Film Organization $2,125 $650
Uplift $2,900$1,595 Videobank $1,930$1,327
Vision $19,640 $11,220
Visual Communications Tech $3,000$2,705
Volunteers in Progress $2,900$2,900