OU’s Senate Appropriations Committee enacted less strict rules for student organization funding.
Senators from the Senate Appropriations Commission adopted a revised set of rules after strict guidelines limited SAC’s ability to fund certain student organizations.
SAC members decide which organizations receive funding and how much funding they receive based on a point system and interview process that requires applicants to spend time researching their venue and other expenses to ensure accuracy.
“You should definitely spend some time on your application because we can tell when you don’t,” said SAC vice commissioner Charlotte Klimovich. “If you don’t do that, it makes us a little bit nervous that your estimate might be off, or maybe you aren’t taking it seriously.”
While SAC plans to continue its three-step application process, new rule changes suggest that more relaxed evaluations may be prevalent in coming weeks.
Eight items have been removed from the list of funding exclusions. Funding for transportation, equipment, food or beverages and off-campus events, among other activities, will now be decided on a case-by-case basis.
“We’re really trying to push to be more relaxed,” Klimovich said. “In the past we’ve had to turn people down for sort of silly things a lot of the time due to our exclusions and that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Last semester nearly $40,000 of Ohio University students’ contribution to the general fee last fall were used by SAC to help fund student organizations.
Each year students contribute $1,256 to the general fee as part of their tuition.
The percentage of the general fee that SAC receives its funding from “would be almost impossible to calculate, as the general fee is so large and our budget is so small in comparison,” Klimovich said. “But it is your money, and that’s why we try to give it back to you.”
Last semester, SAC awarded nearly $20,000 in spot funding, which is monetary assistance available for smaller events. This spring, the cap for spot funding has been set at $1,500 per application.
Out of the approximately $130,000 requested for annual funding, only $20,000 was distributed to student organizations selected by SAC senators from a list of 24 applicants. The funds were used to finance group socials, workshops and advertising, among other activities.
Another goal for Klimovich is to improve the commission’s ability to share ideas with students and within their own group.
“We’ve always had an issue with communication,” Klimovich said. “Better communication with people who want to apply for funding, better communication with the rest of senate and even communicating a lot within our own group I think would be something that everyone agrees we need to do.”
SAC added a “Disclosure and Curriculum” section to its official rules, which details how the commission plans to turn this goal into action by outlining specific guidelines for communicating with the entire senate body and student organizations requesting funding.
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