By KATIE MEYER
Concert choir is the newest of Fordham’s nine referendum clubs. The Budget Committee hopes that now, more clubs will follow its lead and seek referedum status.
(Ram Archives)
For Fordham club leaders, applying for funding is often one of the most challenging, and often frustrating, parts of the job.
Every semester, executive board members spend hours preparing budget packets hoping to receive enough funding come budget day, and almost inevitably, when the funding decisions come out, there are a lot of disappointments.
The College Democrats were among those who were disappointed on budget day for spring 2014, which was held in November. The club applied for around $35,000 but only got $81, because they failed to include an availability date for their speaker, according to the club’s Treasurer Joe O’Brien, FCRH ’16.
O’Brien is one of the students who has become annoyed with the budgeting process. “Clubs are in the dark when it comes to how USG allocates their money,” he said.
This semester, though, the system might become a little easier to navigate.
Last Wednesday, the e-board members of the referendum clubs on campus met with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Budget Committee, Muhammad Sarwar, GSB ’14, and Melissa Thomas, GSB ’15, to discuss a review of the budgets of all referendum clubs.
No major changes will be made to the current system; instead, the committee primarily wants to help students to better understand the current system.
In a PowerPoint presentation during the meeting with club leaders, Sarwar outlined their main goals as being “to ensure transparency among all clubs, to clarify what it is to be a referendum club, to ensure that all clubs follow the same rules and to promote a cohesive environment among club leaders.”
The distinction between referendum and non-referendum clubs was one of the points that Sarwar emphasized most.
Out of the 89 clubs at Fordham who applied for funding for the current semester, only nine of them are referendum clubs. These are Campus Activities Board, Mimes and Mummers, Peer Educators, FUEMS, Debate Society, Global Outreach, United Student Government, Ampersand and Concert Choir. All but Concert Choir, the most recent addition, have been referendum for over five years.
According to Sarwar, it is much easier for a club to become referendum than many leaders think.
“I feel like club leaders, and a big reason why we are doing this review…is that club leaders aren’t really sure what [referendum clubs are],” he said. “Referendum clubs tend to be the bigger clubs, and that’s not a requirement for the handbook. For the handbook the only requirement is you have to have three semesters of budget, you have to explain why you want referendum status and have a projected budget for the upcoming semester… it just says that referendum status is for clubs that spend a consistent amount each semester and have proven to be responsible with their allocated funding.”
Sarwar also wanted students to have a better understanding of where their funding comes from, and what else the funds have to pay for.
Currently, the Student Activities Fee (the money that goes to clubs and other club expenses) is set at $680,520. Thirty percent of that amount automatically goes into administrative student activities use, which is used, as Sarwar said, “outside of the purview of direct clubs.”
The remaining 70 percent ($476,364) is spread throughout three different categories. This semester, $56,000 went to non-club expenses, like Senior Week, OSLCD and club sports. The remaining $330,060 was divided between referendum and non-referendum clubs, with $277,060 allocated to the nine referendums, and the remaining $143,304 divided among 80 non-referendum clubs.
With more clubs continually applying for official status (20 are currently in line to become registered with USG), that money may become even more thinly spread in the coming semester.
If the budget committee gets its way, however, there might be a little more cash to go around next semester.
They have proposed an $85,065 increase in the Student Activities Fee, a change of 12.5 percent that, if passed, could mean an increase of 41.55 percent for general, non-referendum clubs next fall.
For Sarwar, the desire to give clubs more resources is a very personal one.
“Having been a club president for two years in my freshman and sophomore years, and having done budgeting and having gone with no money the first time I did budgeting, I feel for the folks who just want to do the programming that their club wants to do,” he said. “That’s why they exist, and then this kind of…bureaucratic stuff gets in the way of them fulfilling their role as a student leader.”
The first step, however, is to make sure everything is working properly with referendum budgets.
The Budget Committee plans to do this by meeting with the treasurers from all referendum clubs. They will be going over all the general budget categories, as well as how the club in question allocates funds in these categories.
Sarwar’s PowerPoint explained the rationale behind these meetings, stating, “Historically, referendum clubs are allocated their respective referendum amount without any of the requirements, such as back up documentation, which are required of other clubs. This has created an environment of uncertainty and confusion among club leaders regarding the rules applicable to all clubs. The Committee is looking to erase this confusion by clarifying the process to become a referendum club as well as the allocation of referendum funds within those clubs.”
When asked what he would change about budgeting, O’Brien’s answer paralleled the measures that the Committee is planning to take.
“If USG wants to move towards a more transparent and fair process, they should, first of all, have every referendum club follow the budgeting rules that the rest of the clubs have to follow and list their expenses to the community,” O’Brien said. “In addition, they should provide more specifics for appeals precedents, provide students with a complete picture of the steps in the budget process and strengthen their channels of communication with the clubs. Doing so would help to alleviate a lot of the stress clubs feel around budget time.”
On this topic, at least, the groups are on the same page.
Katie Meyer is News Editor at The Fordham Ram.
