COURTNEY GFROERER and SYLVANA DUSSAN
Managing Editor and Editor in Chief
Many constituted groups felt unsatisfied after Student Association’s Budget and Appropriations week when they were told budget cuts could take place. However, after the first B&A meetings were held and initial cuts were made to various groups’ budgets, a second round of cuts followed, leaving some in shock.
The total amount of funding proposed to be cut from clubs is $32,469.33 pending General Assembly approval. Not all constituted groups had cuts to their 2014-15 budgets.
Additionally, the General & Administrative line in the total budget received $18,044.54, a five percent increase from the 2013-14 fiscal year. Out of that amount, around $12,000 will go to SA Student Services and payroll and benefits for SA employees, according to SA comptroller Kyle Stolt.
Initially, some members of the constituted groups whose funding was decreased reported back to their E-boards only to later learn their funding would be cut even more than they were originally told.
“I was surprised when I got that second budget revision,” said WNYF- TV general manager Casandra DeLuise. Over $3,500 was cut from WNYF- TV’s budget.
“I don’t think we knew how bad the numbers actually looked until we got down to it and started looking at things,” Justin Dickerson, speaker of the Assembly, said.
Though the budget is changed every year and many groups see changes on a regular basis, this year proved to show more cuts than normal. Between the increasing minimum wage and declining student enrollment, larger budget cuts were deemed necessary by the B&A committee.
According to B&A committee members, cuts were made to groups based on merit, past events they reported to SA and their contribution and interaction with the campus.
An important part of deciding which part of a group’s budget was to get cut, the B&A committee needed to carefully evaluate where the money was going in each club. In order to know how the cuts impacted each club, specific knowledge of how the club functions and how much money is needed to accomplish certain tasks is necessary. Not all groups felt that was the case, however.
“My biggest concern is that the B&A committee judges groups based on numbers on a piece of paper, but I’ve never seen anyone from B&A attend a BSU event,” said Black Student Union president Jillian Hanesworth.
BSU’s budget has a proposed 35 percent cut, which amounts to a $11,373.79 decrease.
“BSU has shown, in this year alone, a major improvement. Their events have had over 60 plus people attend and it just goes to show how much growth they are experiencing and I think that for us to take that much from them, with them trying to strive for better, is not fair,” stated Antonio Regulier, SA president.
“They [B&A committee members] don’t know what the groups are about, they don’t know what the group contributes to the student body, they don’t know what community the group is serving. They just see numbers,” expressed Hanesworth.
Aside from knowing the goals of the group, certain clubs also needed funds in the 2014-15 fiscal year to function properly. WNYF-TV was planning on utilizing money from the budget to purchase necessary editing and HDR equipment.
“With TV, you kind of have to be there to understand how it works, so I think that they don’t really have a solid idea of what is vital to making our station functional and also up-to-date,” explained DeLuise. “I think that also has a part in why we got cut so much.”
Clubs discontent with their cuts can mark “dissatisfied” on their budgets before they turn it in for General Assembly day, which will be held on Saturday, March 29.
“There are a lot of groups that are unhappy. There are a lot of individuals who feel their groups were targeted,” Dickerson said. “We need to make sure that every group leaves that room feeling like we were fair.”
Dickerson hopes to see a system of checks and balances made by the General Assembly as they move to pass the budget. Asking why certain clubs are being cut money and if those cuts are valid cuts are the type of questions that Dickerson feels will benefit not only constituted groups, but the general student body.
While that may be the ultimate goal of SA and the B&A committee, it is clear that not all individuals and groups see that as the end result.
“I feel like the Student Association should be an ally to the groups. The Student Association is the foundation for any group on this campus, so we should be able to go to SA if we feel like there is a battle that we are fighting and they should be able to take our side,” expressed Hanesworth. “If groups feel like SA is who the something is not right.”
Committee members feel that this year was especially difficult in making cuts, and that GA day will be more involved and in-depth than in past years. Aside from clubs not getting extra funding for new events, activities and trips, many clubs saw funding cut that had previously been given to them year after year.
“With the new budget that we have, the probability of pulling off a concert or a fashion show is not that likely,” said Hanesworth.
One possible solution to the issue is to increase the Student Activity Fee. Currently at $95 per student, the proposed budget has a suggested increase of $2, making the Student Activity Fee $97. This would help to offset the cuts made to some clubs.
“The number we would have had to go to in order to make it so that no groups had any changes from our first round of cuts would have been $100 for the Student Activity Fee,” Dickerson explained. “It would have been a $5 increase.”
Stolt, who chaired B&A week, believes there is a solution to the problem, but it depends on which one the General Assembly thinks is right.
“Do we want to raise a bunch of money now and then groups can do what they want but then take it away again, or do we want to keep the budget trim and not raise the Activity Fee by a lot of money? We are trying to balance everything and plan for the future,” said Stolt.
Though cuts have been proposed, the entire budget still has to pass through General Assembly before everything is final. After it is cleared with GA, SA president Regulier has the power to pass or veto the budget. Dickerson encouraged any dissatisfied club to be proactive and defend their group.
“If you’re the president of a group and you are unsatisfied with your budget, then you mark dissatisfied and you fight for your budget, because that’s your job as an individual group member,” Dickerson said. “My job as a member of the Budget and Appropriations committee is to balance everybody against everything. Fight for your money, fight for your group. That’s why you were elected to the position you were elected to.
“I encourage every constituted group that is dissatisfied with their budget to come dissatisfied, say that they’re dissatisfied, and fight for their money, and demand that the general assembly raise the Student Activity Fee if that’s how they feel,” Dickerson said.
Come GA day, that is exactly what Black Student Union and other clubs plan to do.
“We will not accept something that we don’t agree with. We will talk until they ask us to sit down, because it is time for a reminder,” said Hanesworth.
“Some of the groups on this campus are so significant when it comes to the identity of Fredonia and when it comes to making Fredonia what it is.”