New club funding process

By Mark Hansen

Associated Students has changed the process for club funding requests. They have increased the maximum dollar amount a club can ask for without an AS vote and have restricted the time period during which clubs may request more than $400.

The current system is set up so that clubs can petition for money at any point during the year. Student

Senate Chairman Christian Gagel and Adam Fox, chairman of the Student Affairs committee, said the new system should make the distribution of funds to student clubs more evenly distributed.

The low-level funding limit has been changed from $200 to $400. This type of request was designed so that clubs could petition for small amounts of money through a simple process.

Most clubs that requested less than $200 got the money because their request only needed to pass a rubric that the Student Affairs committee had created at the beginning of the year, said Gagel. Petitions for more than $200 had to be voted on by the Student Senate.

Sam Go, president of the Marketing Network, said she had avoided requesting $300 for an event because the process was too time-consuming. Instead, members of the club had to chip in.

Gagel said, "We really want students to know that they can access these funds. Students are putting together better petitions because it's a little more competitive."

Morgen Muñoz, co-chair of the Arab Cultural Society, said increasing the maximum for low-level funding should prove to be beneficial to clubs.

"You have access to more expensive things without having the hassle of having to present to senate," she said.

However, Muñoz did voice some concern that there is not enough room to explain why the funds are needed for the club on the new petition forms.

"If you present to Senate, you can get in front of people and explain yourself," she said.

AS has budgeted 30 percent of the money that would otherwise be distributed during meetings for the under $400 requests.

One of biggest issues this quarter was clubs petitioning for money in the first two weeks, but missing out because so much money had to be reserved for clubs petitioning later in the quarter, Gagel said.

"We are taking all of the possible large petitions of the quarter and putting them in two meetings," Gagel said.

Fox said having these meetings at the beginning of the quarter should help AS create a budget for the rest of the quarter. Then they won't need to vote on each individual petition as it comes in.

"They're asking for large requests up front. That allows all large requests to be viewed equally," said Jon Gray, director for the Center of Student Leadership.

"It sounds like a good idea because it keeps clubs organized," Go said. She said if clubs know ahead of time how much money they will be receiving, they will have more time to raise supplemental funds on their own.

AS will also have clubs re-register for the next year at the end of the current year from now on, Gagel said.

"They won't have to worry about all the paperwork at the beginning of the year, they will have time to recruit and start planning events. It's usually a stressful time," said Gagel.

Gagel added that new clubs will still have the opportunity to form during the year.

Contact Mark Hansen at (408) 554-4546 or mnhansen@scu.edu