SAC annual funds stay static for next year

The Student Activities Committee's 2008 budget, announced on Monday, specifies roughly $30,000 more in immediate-need funding for student groups, while denying some other groups over half of the funding they requested, raising concerns that these groups have outgrown the scope of the SAC.

Among the disappointed student groups is the JHU Band, which received only $9,000 of the $20,000 it asked for, mainly because the SAC caps travel expenses at $2,000.

"I think there may be some groups who can no longer get all the funding they need from SAC. I have been working with the band this year, for example, to identify other sources of funding to help them with their travel expenses, which is why their budget is so high," said Susan Boswell, dean of Student Life.

"I think that the best way to meet the needs of groups like these is for SAC to contribute within their guidelines and to identify funding outside of SAC to fund legitimate expenses SAC cannot fund," Boswell said.

James Almond, junior financial manager for student involvement, explained that the groups always have the option of requesting additional funding from SAC at a later date.

"However, they could not come back and request additional funding for something they had already received the total cap," he said.

Although the committee's policy is to reserve $100,000 for additional funding requests, the SAC projects that $20,000 will rollover, adding to the current $86,000 in reserve to give $106,000 to meet the needs of groups who chose to request more money next year.

"Last year, there was not as much left for groups to ask for funding during the year and cuts were made based on small items rather than general policy," said Scott Bierbryer, Student Council executive treasurer and SAC chair. "We will definitely have enough in our contingency next year for groups to request funds; additionally, we have funded all Class A groups fairly and efficiently so that only those groups that have been audited in the past will likely need to come in to request additional funds."

"It was clearly a miscommunication last year. Fortunately it was okay because they rolled over and received enough money from audits," Almond said.

The SAC begins with $425,000, of which $125,000 is awarded as a block grant to fund Student Council, the Committee on Student Elections (CSE), individual class events, Hopkins Organizational Programming, and the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium.

"The money is monitored and audited. The difference is groups like MSE Symposium, Spring Fair and StuCo are given blocks of money and expected to use them efficiently. MSE could not function if they had to ask for proposals every week. However, StuCo and these groups are carefully watched by the administration and monitored to make sure that the money is used properly," Bierbryer said.

StuCo's Committee on Authorization is also designated to oversee and conduct audits of all the Student Council accounts

Student Council's money goes towards class events, speaker fees, operating costs, and a StuCo Contingency that provides money for student groups not funded by the SAC.

Almond explained that in the past, Student Council was a last resort for groups that needed funding.

"Now there are certain groups that they are specifically responsible for like Spring Fair, the classes. Those groups cannot approach SAC," he said.

Groups within student council, such as the Committee on Student Elections (CSE) receive portions of the money.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what was done with the CSE money this year, but clearly, it was not used effectively. This is something that will definitely be addressed next year and I think things like this simply went overlooked this year due to large amount of turnover in StuCo as well as changes in administration," Bierbryer said.

After the block grants are awarded, $300,000 is left to fund SAC groups, a total that includes the reserved money for funding requests next year.

"I can say that except for minor discrepancies, we were very satisfied with the money that we received from the SAC this year," Leigh Lieberman, president of the Barnstormers, said.

"For the 2005-2006 school year, we were unable to receive funding for a level one director and an accompanist (over $5,000 total) on account of a miscommunication about when to properly request the funding. Thankfully, we were able to cover our costs," she said.

Bierbryer thinks that there are some groups that are too large to operate solely through SAC funding.

"The SAC on one hand funds small singing groups and cultural clubs, yet also funds an entire band program, Barnstormers, full religious groups, an ice hockey team (for which there is no varsity equivalent), and numerous other full programs," he said.

Bierbryer added that SAC is expected to "make a policy that is designed to apply to all of these groups. I think we have made policy that is fair for all groups, but some groups simply need more funding."