Student Senate budgets

Although many clubs received budgets significantly under the amount requested, most club leaders are satisfied with their budgets for the upcoming 2010-2011 academic year.

“It wasn’t ideal,” Kanakadea Yearbook editor Zach Grosser said, “but with a little bit of rollover [from last year’s budget], [adviser] Dan Napolitano’s guidance, and the yearbook company’s support, we’ll make it happen regardless.”

The funding requested was nearly $190,000, almost double that of last year, although Student Senate finance chair Ann Halbert-Brooks did admit that last year was a low request year.

Another reason for less overall funding is the increase in returning clubs on campus. According to Halbert-Brooks, there are usually five or six new clubs approved for a Student Senate budget and several older clubs drop out. This year, participation increased from 40 clubs to 50 clubs which makes financing all those clubs difficult.

The Alpine Ski team, a previously university-funded athletic team, lost all funding from the athletic department due to budget constraints, and was saved by Student Senate, which transformed the team into a Senate-funded club in order to allow the ski team members to still compete. Student Senate’s funding of the ski team essentially takes up the 3 percent increase in the budget Student Senate was in-line to receive.

“It is unfortunate that the ski team had to come to Senate for funding,” Halbert-Brooks said, “but they definitely should have funding.”

Halbert-Brooks says she looks at the situation as if they never had the 3 percent increase to begin with, as if allocations remained the same from last year. Unfortunately, as more clubs are requesting budgets, more money is needed, and it all comes down to who is asking for how much, and what kind of needs take precedence.

This year, there were two clubs that formally appealed their budget results – REPO, also known as Reusable Materials Depot, and MIA, also known as Millitant Illustrator’s Association. REPO, which was denied funding by Student Senate, was looking for funding despite refusing to participate in Hot Dog Day volunteering. According to the Budget Committee’s results, REPO requested funding for work study money and reimbursement penalties, which are features Senate cannot finance. MIA was hoping to receive additional funding for the NY Comic Conference. Neither group passed the Appeals Committee.

Rescue Squad members, although no formal complaint was proposed, also expressed some dissatisfaction with the way their budget turned out. Rescue Squad initially was hoping for funding for advertisement and replacing a backboard.

Treasurer of Rescue Squad Brian Herbert said the club needed funding for advertising in order to get the message out about what Rescue Squad does. They also were hoping to receive a better model for the backboard that had "disappeared".

"Having a backboard is one of the requirements we need in order to be certified. Luckily we were able to find an adequate model for next year," Herbert added.

Other club leaders expressed satisfaction with the way their clubs were treated fairly at the budget hearings.

Rob Koch, president of Alternative Cinema said he initially budgeted to put on nine movies throughout the year but was only approved for seven.

“It’s a lot of work putting on movies, so I’m happy with only putting on seven,” Koch said.

Other clubs like Friday Night Live and Middle Eastern Dance Organization have been very happy with the budgets approved, according to their representatives and leaders.

Although people may be upset initially that their financing goals were not met, Halbert-Brooks says most of the grumbling will be over.

“Mostly people have been supportive,” Halbert-Brooks said. “Within the constraints we had, people are very forgiving of us.”