With a new financial vision in place, members of student organizations will have a clearer idea of what is expected of them during this spring’s funding process.

The 55th Legislative Session of Student Association passed its new financial vision Jan. 31 — a vision significantly more specific than previous visions. The vision serves as a guideline for the Finance Board, which reviews budget requests for the allocation of the $2 million student activity fee to student organizations at Syracuse University.

Unlike previous visions, which focused on programs that brought value to the campus community and collaboration between organizations, the new vision includes a four-tier system dependent on a student organization’s prior programming experience to determine finance allocation.

‘Before, a new student group could apply for $10,000 and would assume they would get it because they thought it was perfect,’ said Jeff Rickert, SA comptroller.

Sometimes organizations request funding, receive the money and then the event funded is canceled or a minimal number of students attend, Rickert said. The new financial vision aims to prevent this by focusing on an organization’s experience.

Organizations with little experience will receive no more than $5,000. As an organization plans more successful events, it will have the opportunity to receive up to $12,000 or up to $25,000. Once an organization has proved it is capable of programming successfully, it can request funding for events that cost $25,000 or more, according to the financial vision.

Organizations can move up a tier if they host successful events or down a tier if they do not. The financial vision will give them a better idea about how much money they should expect to receive, Rickert said.

The new vision also includes a provision that will allow no more than eight similar events per semester. If, for example, 10 student groups wanted to bring a comedian, not all ten events would receive funding because there could be another event that’s better, Rickert said. This is meant to reach out to more groups.

The Finance Board will determine cost efficiency by dividing the total amount of money requested by the expected number of students attending the event. If the cost per student is above $35, the Finance Board must justify why the event deserves its recommended funding.

‘We had these rules before, but it was never set in stone,’ Rickert said.

Since the vision was passed, SA has received positive feedback from student organizations, said SA President Neal Casey. 

Hillel Jewish Student Union had difficulty receiving funding for its 60th anniversary concert two semesters in a row. The new vision plan will hopefully give Hillel better opportunities to receive funding, said Hillel President Michael Weiss.

In spring 2010, Hillel applied for $77,370 but was denied funding because SA does not typically provide more than $70,000 for Goldstein Auditorium events and because the Finance Board did not believe it reflected the organization’s mission. Hillel was also denied funding for the same event during the fall 2010 budget season, according to a Nov. 9 article published in The Daily Orange. 

‘Although we didn’t get funding for the concert, the financial vision can really give us an opportunity to go to SA and actually receive funding for future events and projects we plan to put on,’ Weiss said.

Despite positive feedback about the new financial vision from student organizations, some concerns have been raised. 

David Woody, a representative of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he was worried about student organizations trying to reach the highest level of the tier system too quickly. 

‘And along the way, they drop the ball because they try to aim too high,’ he said.

Woody has also expressed concerns at SA’s Jan. 31 meeting because there was no mention of University Union, which became the Official Programming Board during the fall semester. 

As the Official Programming Board, UU can now receive funding on an annual basis rather than every semester ‘to properly secure talent and programming for each consecutive year,’ according to Bill 54-209: Revision to the Financial Code. This means UU is the only recognized student organization whose mission statement specifically states it is dedicated to programming, according to the bill.

‘As a function of the title, they were to not only have a different budget set up, but they were supposed to help assist other organizations bring high-caliber talent to campus,’ Woody said.

Woody did not want to pass the Official Programming Board bill without some specifications, such as including a liaison to help organizations run successful events, he said. Even though the bill has passed, he said he is concerned no one will take care of it. 

SA, UU and the Office of Student Affairs are still trying to figure out what responsibilities UU should have as the Official Programming Board, said Rickert, SA comptroller. 

‘We don’t want to weigh them down to the point that they can’t be a successful programming organization anymore,’ he said.

Andrew Beyda, UU president, said the role of UU would not change just because it has a new title. The organization still plans to hold large-scale events, such as Juice Jam and Block Party.

‘Not including us by name is probably because they didn’t want to single out one student organization,’ Beyda said.

He said UU’s job would not be to oversee other organizations planning their events, but he would be happy to answer their questions about the Finance Board. The new financial vision is something Beyda approves of.

Said Beyda: ‘I think it’s a step in the right direction.’ 

lgleveil@syr.edu

Published on February 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille