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Remaining funds half of Spring ’03
Student groups planning to petition Student Government for funding this semester may want to bank on other plans. As of Tuesday’s senate meeting, available funds are $43,668, just slightly more than half the figure that remained to be allocated last year at this time, according to Ross Bartlett, vice president of financial affairs.
“This semester it is much lower than it has been in past spring semesters,” Bartlett said Tuesday. “Last semester, we gave out a little more than we should have.”
The senate rarely fully funds student groups or events, but organizations that have not yet requested funding may be out of luck, Bartlett said.
“It’s a somewhat unfortunate part of my job to meet with people and tell them they can’t have funding,” Bartlett said.
Questioned at Tuesday’s senate meeting as to whether student groups would be notified of the budget situation, Bartlett said he may create a packet detailing how organizations can seek alternate sources of funding.
“I can think about some way of approaching that,” he said.
Kyle Cyr, vice president for student organizations, said senators need to be cautious when allocating the remaining funds.
“Money is getting tight around here, so we can’t be full funding events,” he said.
Justin Brown, who recently announced his resignation as president of the senate, agreed that the previous administration’s spending may have contributed to the shortfall this semester.
“They may have been a little too generous in their spending,” Brown said. “They could have been a little more selective.”
Senators could have thought twice about how much and to which student groups they doled out money, Brown said, adding that the senate has been petitioned with an “unusually large” number of requests for funding from student groups.
Brown said he does foresee budget problems down the road, which may frustrate student organizations seeking funding. The anticipated shortfall had little to do with his decision to resign, Brown said.
While representatives for student government attribute the lack of funds to increased requests for funding from student organizations, some groups received far less this year. So far, student government has spent nearly $20,000 less on clubs compared to last year’s figure at this time, according to budget reports.
The Student Women’s Association received about $7,000 less than last year, and the Latin Student Organization was awarded $1,700, less than half the amount from 2002-03.
“I think the money we’ve allocated to clubs has gone to great things,” said Cortlynn Hepler, student body president. “I think it was allocated very wisely. I wish we could do more, but there’s only so much money available.”
Some of this year’s largest allocations include nearly $100,000 for legal services, $50,000 for Bumstock, $20,000 for the Guest Lecture Series, and $18,000 for Residents on Campus.
University boards – including the Interfraternity Council and Off-Campus Board – and student government operating costs have seen significant increases this year. Meanwhile, clubs and special allocations, which fund programs such as the Collegiate Readership Program and Whistle Alert Program, have suffered a substantial decrease in overall funding.
Former student body president Matt Rodrigue said student groups may have requested funding earlier than last year, looking for money in the fall semester instead of waiting for spring. Therefore, funding applications may soon drop off, he said.
“Requests for funding tend to trail off after Spring Break,” Hepler said.
Both Hepler and Rodrigue agreed that the budget situation will be resolved.
“I wouldn’t call it a financial crisis,” Rodrigue said. “They’re probably more stable financially than they realize they are.”
President among eight resignations
The leader of the Student Senate has announced his resignation, one of eight losses the senate has suffered in just the last week. Senate President Justin Brown told senators Tuesday that he did not wish do elaborate publicly on why he resigned, only that his term would end at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Citing non-specific reasons of personal conflict in a letter addressed to general student senators, Brown said in his letter that his resignation is in his personal best interest and in the best interest of the senate.
Rumors of Brown’s resignation began circulating as early as last week, but on Saturday Brown denied he was leaving the senate.
“No, absolutely not,” he said Saturday.
Brown said he decided to withold this information because he couldn’t confirm the rumor without first informing his staff and the senators.
Brown took office only seven weeks ago after winning the election by a landslide victory in December.
“I’m a student first and my academics come first,” Brown said.
The other seven senate members who have resigned are Ryan Clark, Ivan Crowley, Matthew Dube, Kevin Forgett, Stephen Fortune, Aaron Mehuren and Nicklaus Laverty.
Brown also said he took the student government budget issues into consideration when deciding to resign. As of Tuesday’s meeting, student government’s unallocated funds were reported at $43,668.03 – about half as much as was in unallocated funds last year at this time.
But Brown denied that he is resigning solely because of the budget crunch the senate may be facing, saying only that the office was not what he thought it would be when he decided to run.
“If I had known then what I know now, I would not have decided to run,” he said. “I’m just not the person who should be handling these problems.”
The budget shortfall is not a crisis right now, but could present some troubles down the road, Brown said.
“The next person who fills this position is going to have a tough time dealing with this [financial] situation,” Brown said.
The next president of the senate, who also serves as vice president of the student body, will be appointed by Student Body President Cortlynn Hepler and then approved by the Student Senate.
Hepler said he respects Brown’s decision to leave.
“Justin had worked hard and is a good leader, and I respect someone who can say to themselves, ‘This isn’t working for me,’ and speak up before it’s too late,” Hepler said. “I’m sorry to see him go.”
Hepler was in Texas at the time of Brown’s resignation announcement, along with other senate members, participating in a student government conference, he said.
Hepler would not speculate on why his second-in-command and seven other senate members resigned, saying only that he wished he could have spoken to them.
“They’re all good people. I wish I could have been here and maybe talked things through,” he said.
Former student body president Matthew Rodrigue said the numerous resignations by student senators are likely a result of Brown’s decision to leave.
“Well, the leader resigned … The two are pretty linked,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. The job is more demanding than it looks from the outside, sometimes. This has been a real time of transition for student government.”
Ryan Clark, a former senator who resigned Saturday, said it was more than the responsibility of his position – or Brown’s resignation – that prompted him to leave
“Justin Brown resigning, that helped me make up my mind, but after that meeting I was like ‘It’s time for me to get out,’” Clark said, referring to a recent senate membership committee meeting that he felt got out of control. “We all felt that when we had someone like Justin, who had been here for awhile, things were going to go well. And they didn’t.”
A discussion that began as a debate about senate issues quickly escalated into a personal confrontation among some senators, Clark said.
“They were arguing, to say the least. Really outlandish things were said,” he said. “It was semi-related to the senate, and then basically it just launched into a personal attack.”
None of the other seven senators who recently resigned had returned requests for comment at press time.
Sen. Dan O’Brien, who on Wednesday reversed his decision to quit the senate, also cited personal disagreements among senators as a reason for his frustration with the organization. His attempts to make changes within the group, including reducing executive salaries and paying senators, were met with approval during private conversations, but senators failed to support his ideas publicly, O’Brien said.
“If you talk to one person with no one else around, they’ll say ‘let’s do the pay thing,’” he said. “I don’t know how to get somebody to stay true to their word after our conversation.”
O’Brien abruptly left Tuesday’s senate meeting to speak to a former senator, Matthew Desmond, who complained that senators were not adequately representing students.
“My level of stress is just beyond what I can handle,” O’Brien said. “Somebody should have kicked me out [Tuesday] night.”
O’Brien speculated that some senators may have resigned after learning that Student Government, which is a private corporation, was temporarily without general liability insurance. Some may have feared they could be successfully sued without the insurance, he said.
Despite the senate’s recent membership problems, three new senators were inducted Tuesday and more are expected to do so, Brown said. At the meeting, Sen. Erik Black encouraged members to stay involved with the organization and avoid personal attacks.
“I hope no one else leaves. Hopefully we can focus on the other problems facing Student Government,” he said. “We need to work together to solve these problems. It is healthy for us to disagree. Let’s not let it get too personal. I really urge everyone not to leave.”
