In its final meeting of the fall semester last night, Student Council heard appropriations appeals from two University student organizations: the Virginia Rowing Association and Mock Trial.
Council did not approve the appeal of either organization because of the budget constraints the Appropriations Committee faced this semester.
“This year we have seen an unprecedented number of appropriations requests,” Appropriations Committee Co-Chair Brendan Whittington said. “We could only allocate $150,000, and the total requests amounted to $450,000, so that puts us in a dilemma.”
Council’s Appropriations Committee receives this funding to give to student organizations through the Student Activities Fee, Vice President for Organizations Kayla Wherry said.
“The problem is SAF hasn’t been increased in the last few years,” Wherry said. “Yet we have over 600 student organizations right now. Of course not all of them ask for money, but in the last few years we’ve seen them increase ... what they’re asking for [three-fold].”
The rowing team only received 12.5 percent of the funding it originally requested. Members pointed out that because they were only receiving a fraction of the amount of funding requested, the burden to come up with funds to finance trips to competitions and new equipment would fall upon the shoulders of the athletes, who already heavily fundraise and pay member dues.
“The fact is financial constraints have come to the point where we’ll have to raise dues, and we won’t be able to compete on the same level because we’ll lose members,” rowing team co-captain Mike Hankinson said.
The Appropriations Committee chairs explained to Council members that because Council cannot increase appropriations to all student organizations, it must use more discretion about which groups receive more funding.
“At this time we cannot approve any allocation increases,” Whittington said. “We are very sorry that we’ve come to the point where we have to make these absurd cuts, but in the end you have to weigh the decision and decide if the rowing team is more important than the other 58 groups.”
Mock Trial, a student organization that competes against other schools in mock court trials, also urged Council to allocate additional funding to help pay for uniforms that would help the organization successfully compete against other schools.
“Uniforms are also necessary for witnesses during the trials,” Mock Trial treasurer Marcy Coburn said. “It’s the details in our competition that really do make a difference.”
Appropriations representatives argued that given the budget crunch Council currently faces, additional funding should only be allocated if it is imperative to the organization’s operation.
“We only give uniforms to club sports because they’re absolutely necessary,” Appropriations Committee Co-Chair Ashley Hall said. “We did not feel that these uniforms were absolutely necessary to this organization.”
Council members debated the merits of both organizations’ arguments and ultimately concluded that the SAF budget situation is problematic and might have to be revised in the future.
“It’s just important to remember that with the budget situation that we’re in, it’s very difficult to hand out more money,” Vice President for Administration John Nelson said. “In the long run I think we need to look at how we’re going to make this process better because in the short-term setting this is all we can do.”
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