Black Student Cultural Programming Board, University Program Council and the International Student Union will be receiving fewer university dollars.
The Ohio University Senate Appropriations Commission is taking budgetary measures to help the little guy.
SAC has decided to cut funding for the three biggest clubs on campus by about 20 percent in an effort to make room in the budget for smaller clubs, SAC Commissioner Charlotte Klimovich said.
Those large clubs, commonly referred to as “the big three,” include the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, University Program Council and the International Student Union.
“Essentially we were in a situation where we could give very little to the smaller organizations throughout the semester, because the larger ones had taken so much of the budget,” Klimovich said.
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SAC has an annual budget of about $400,000 that is drawn from the OU students’ general fee money, “the idea being everyone pays in and everyone benefits,” Hannah Clouser, Student Senate treasurer, said.
Additionally, SAC’s budget includes money from the university’s uFUND, which contributes about $40,000 a semester to the budget. The money comes from the judiciary fund or fines students pay if they get into legal trouble.
In order to make room for smaller organizations, SAC began providing funding based on a three-tier system.
Tier one, consisting of “the big three,” receive about 60 percent of the budget, Klimovich said. Tier two, the smaller clubs, get about 20 percent of the budget, and tier-three clubs, the ones just starting out, receive about 7 percent of the budget.
Aside from the annual money clubs can receive through this system, they can also apply for spot funding which is doled out on a biweekly basis, Klimovich said, which accounts for 10 percent of the budget. Of the remaining 3 percent, 2 percent goes toward a stipend for the SAC graduate assistant and 1 percent is for new organization grants.
“I understand the limitations SAC has. I don’t blame them and, of course, it's been hard, but we are working around it,” Mohammad Pashtun, president of ISU, said.
ISU adopted new practices to make up for budget cuts, including spending more time on fundraisers, collaborating with other organizations and finding more ways to cut costs, such as using social media as opposed to printing event flyers.
“We will not be compromising quality,” Pashtun said. "Just finding more ways to be efficient.”
Although smaller clubs may receive less funding, Klimovich said there are some other ways they can get ahead.
“I encourage clubs just starting out to apply for new organization grants. ... It's money to help them get set up,” she said.
She also advised them to collaborate with bigger clubs, as well as apply for spot funding if they need help with bigger events they are trying to set up.
While SAC has been attempting to allocate more money to smaller organizations, there is still a large discrepancy in the dispersal of money among the different tiers.
“What we look for are clubs that put on events that are open to the most amount of people (when doling out money),” Clouser said.
Klimovich echoed her sentiments.
“We look for what they can bring to OU,” she said.
The three largest clubs commonly put on the biggest events, attracting thousands of students. Those activities include the annual International Street Fair and last year’s Waka Flocka Flame concert.
“Last school year, we hosted close to 40 programs culminating in a university-wide attendance of over 10,000 participants,” Jeffrey Billingslea, president of Black Student Cultural Programming Board, said in an email.
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