During the appropriations process last spring, the Hindu Students Council, a Contracted Independent Organization, requested $650 to pay for a Garba band for their biannual Garba Raas stick dance event in their budget request. What the HSC did not know is that bands cannot be funded with Student Activities Fund money because it is a social cost.
Apparently, Student Council did not know that either. It allocated the money for the band to HSC anyway.
"The budget went to [Student Council] and got approved," Chapter Coordinator Umakant Kori said. "It was an oversight on [their] part."
It was an oversight that will cost the group $650.
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Two days before the October event, the HSC was informed that they would not receive the $650 for the band. However, the group already had signed a legally binding contract with a Garba band.
According to Kori, Council gave the HSC an emergency loan to pay the band. The HSC has until December 1 to pay the loan back.
But Kori said the group is still unsure how they will repay Student Council.
Each year, students pay a $39 activity fee, which is deposited into the SAF. Every spring the treasurer of each CIO must create a budget and then request funds from the SAF.
Based on rules determined by the Board of Visitors, the Appropriations Committee determines how much money to allocate to each CIO.
According to Board of Visitors guidelines, the Appropriations Committee must use such criteria as the size of the group, the group's benefit to the University and the group's level of self-sufficiency to determine how much money to allocate.
According to Kelly Harris, Council vice president for organizations, the SAF has about $600,000. Last year, $422,000 of that was allocated to CIOs that meet BOV-mandated standards. Council's budget was $45,000, Student Legal Services was given $100,000 and Madison House received $52,000.
Harris said there is leftover money each year, because not all the CIOs spend the funds they receive. The extra money is put back into the SAF for the next year's allocation process.
The HSC's story is just one example of the problems both Student Council and CIOs experience during the appropriations process. Recently, these problems have sparked controversy and change in the University community.
Fourth-year Engineering student James Tsai recently formed a new independent coalition, Independent Students for Reform of the Appropriations Process.
According to Tsai, ISFRAP hopes to look at last year's problems, consider the BOV guidelines that direct the SAF, and make recommendations to Student Council on how to reform the process.
"There is no student input into the system," Tsai said, adding that he hopes to survey and interview students to find out what they want from the appropriations process and eventually make a recommendation to Council.
Harris said she already began working in October to make the appropriations process more student friendly.
Harris, who oversees the Appropriations Committee, began by redesigning the way the 14-member Committee is chosen each year.
According to Harris, an extensive application process, which included an exam and a 15-minute interview, was used to pick the members.
The committee members include students from club sports, cultural groups and political groups, Harris said.
Council still is looking for a graduate student to fill the last vacant spot on the committee.
Last year, Harris said, members of the Appropriations Committee were chosen only a few days before the appropriations process began in mid-January, but this year's selection began in October.
Harris said her goal is to fix the two main problems committee members and CIOs identified last year: lack of communication between Council and the CIOs and a need for more education on how to form an accurate budget.
To help better educate committee members, Harris said the group will go on a four-hour retreat in December, where she will train them on the intricacies of the appropriations process. For example, they will learn what is and what is not fundable through the SAF, Harris added.
To help educate CIOs on how to prepare a sound budget, the Appropriations Committee will hold a six-hour treasurer's workshop where CIOs can receive guidance from committee members before their budgets are due, Harris said.
This system of checks and balances, Harris said, should help eliminate the types of problems the HSC is facing this year.
Harris added that the HSC discrepancy should have been caught well before their budget was submitted to the committee for final review.
One way Harris hopes to remedy this situation is through a workshop where the Appropriations Committee will look over preliminary CIO budgets and answer questions before the final requests for funds are due on Feb. 5.
Once allocation decisions are made, CIOs can appeal the committee's decision.
Last year three CIOs, CAINE, the Chinese Student Association and Spectrum Theatre appealed the committee's appropriations to their groups.
CAINE, an animation and comic book group which originally received no money, was allocated $778.50. CSA and Spectrum Theater received no additional funds from the SAF.
Both Harris and Appropriation Committee Chairman Patrick McCreesh said part of the problem last year stemmed from the committee's dynamic.
Harris said the committee suffered from elitism that she hopes will not surface in the new committee.
McCreesh, who was also a member of last year's committee, said a major criticism last year was that committee members all came from the same groups and it became the committee against the University.
"We're really changing the attitude," McCreesh said.
He added that the committee needs to understand that they are allocating student money, not their own money, to the groups.
"It is a service to the University," he said.
Even with all of Harris' changes, it remains to be seen what impact ISFRAP will have on the appropriations process. Tsai said he will continue to try to educate students on the process and to find a balance between a system in which students choose what groups receive their money and the current system in which Student Council decides where the money will go.
According to Harris, Student Council has a policy to encourage students to voice concerns with the system.
"I applaud James for raising these concerns and I hope we have answered his questions," Harris said.
Tsai said he hopes the future of ISFRAP will be to help ensure that the Appropriations committee is answering student concerns and fairly enforcing BOV regulations.
Tsai also said he hopes the changes Harris implemented will not leave when a new VPO is elected next year.
Harris said she hopes the committee works well this year, and that students who have further concerns will make them known to Council.
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