Sparking debate and division at James Madison University, the finance committee of the school's Student Government Association recommended that the Black Student Alliance and the campus chapter of the NAACP lose a significant amount of their funding.
The committee's recommendation at a meeting last Thursday was the first step toward ending the groups' status as "front-end budgeted" organizations.
SGA President Levar Stoney said those committee members voting against the designation argued that the organizations' activities did not fulfill SGA requirements for FEB funding.
According to SGA bylaws, in order to receive FEB status, an organization "must impact a large percentage of the campus, their impact must be important, their impact must be wide and necessary, and the group must need to be budgeted front end due to the importance of the skills and knowledge it provides."
The vote to recommend ending BSA funding was 4-3, and 3-1 to recommend ending NAACP funding. Three committee members, including committee chairman Mike Goodman, abstained from voting on the NAACP's status for lack of information.
"This has caused a lot of stir around campus," Stoney said.
In previous years, the BSA and NAACP have been granted approximately $25,000 and $10,000 respectively through FEB, Stoney said.
To officially deny groups funding, a two-thirds vote by SGA senate members on the finance committee's recommendations is necessary. A vote on the matter was planned for last Tuesday's meeting of the SGA Senate. However, Stoney said, "emotions did run high, and no conclusion or resolution" was reached.
A handful of JMU administrators, the alumni relations director and numerous faculty and students attended the meeting, where only the BSA's situation was discussed before the funding matter was tabled at 1 a.m.
Voting on the issue likely will take place at the SGA's next meeting on Dec. 3, Stoney said.
Stoney refuted claims in a Nov. 19 article in the Harrisonburg-based Daily News Record that insinuated the funding votes were racially motivated.
"It is only a fiscal matter and not a racism matter," he said.
Sophomore finance committee member Melissa Laughner said she voted against the organizations' status because of the first of the four requirements for FEB status.
"When it came down to it, I specifically felt about the BSA that at JMU, where 11 percent of students are minorities, they represent only a small percentage of that amount," Laughner said.
As of fall 2001, JMU's enrollment was composed of 10.2 percent minorities, and 4.1 percent African-Americans, according to JMU's office of university relations.
Finance committee member Mary James voted to recognize the BSA's status.
"In my opinion, they met the four criteria," she said. "They reach beyond [racial] lines and that's what makes them have a great impact on campus."
The second vice president of JMU's NAACP chapter, Olayinka Majekdunmi, said she fervently agrees with James' reasoning.
"We transcend every single line there is," she said. "We care about you as a human being."
If the NAACP and BSA lose FEB status, they only will be able to apply for two payments of $4,000 annually from the SGA's contingency fund, which funds all other recognized campus organizations.
Olayinka said events like the "Great American Speak Out" against racism -- which the NAACP sponsored following Sept. 11, 2001 -- would not have happened without the additional funds FEB status provides.
She also said the NAACP will cooperate with the BSA to garner support for their plight by petitioning JMU community members and encouraging faculty and students to have open minds about their organizations.
Administrators at JMU's Center for Multicultural/International Student Services intend to fully support the organizations through the budgeting process, center director Stacey Edwards said. Edwards also said his center will mentor the students and let them know they fully support their organizations' missions and purposes.
"My hope is that the SGA will come to a decision that's fair and represents the entire community," he said. "For me what's fair is [FEB] funding for the BSA" and NAACP.
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