Student Senate unanimously passed the 2013-2014 Organized Activities budget Monday, the first budget in years that matched spending with revenue.
The Organized Activities budget doles out money to campus activities. The budget is funded through segregated fees, a charge on top of tuition that goes to fund sports teams, music programs and other activities.
Each item funded by segregated fees submits a request for funding. Athletics was the only activity that received the full amount requested — a 4.1 percent bump from last year.
Student Health Services accounts for the largest chunk of the total budget – 30.6 percent – followed by athletics at 21.9 percent. The five largest budget items make up 69.6 percent of the Organized Activities budget.
Of the 27 programs funded through segregated fees, 19 will receive less funding next year than this year. Senate General Operations, Student Office of Sustainability, The Spectator and the Construction Fund will receive the same amount of money next year.
Student Health Services, Student Organizations Fund and Legal Services were given more money next year but were not given their full requested amount.
The 2013-2014 budget marks the first year that Organized Activities spending matches segregated fee intake. Over the last few years Senate was able to fund more items by dipping into a surplus in the carryover fund.
Six or seven years ago the carryover balance tallied almost $1 million. At the time, Student Senate was afraid the state would scoop up the excess cash, so it decided to spend down the carryover balance, Finance Director Bryan Larson said.
Senate spent the extra cash on more campus activities. The total Organized Activities budget has cost more than segregated fees have brought in over the last few years.
“What I had to do for the first time in five years, is match expenditures with our revenue,” Larson said. “We’ve been spending more than we take in every year because we had the surplus.”
The budget covers almost $4.2 million in student activities.
Segregated fees will rise $7 next year. Larson said the fee increase is good compared with recent segregated fee jumps of almost 20 percent — the 2013-2014 budget was an “unprecedented” fiscal year.
In Other Senate News
Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution to disavow a letter sent and signed by senators objecting to the Forum Committee’s consideration of Angela Davis as a speaker next year.
The Forum Committee received a letter Jan. 31 written on official Student Senate letterhead and signed by a handful of student senators. The letter said Angela Davis should not be invited to speak at a Forum event next year.
The resolution said the Jan. 31 letter does not represent Senate’s official position on the Forum Committee’s speaker selections.
Davis was affiliated with the Black Panthers and twice ran for Vice President under the Communist party ticket in the 1980s. The letter said an invitation for Davis to speak on campus would be a violation of viewpoint neutrality.
Senior Casey Coughlin filed an open records request to get a copy of the letter. The resolution passed Monday was “acknowledging that the letter was problematic,” she said.
The resolution said the Forum Committee followed the proper steps in considering Davis to speak. Some senators who signed the letter admitted they did not know what they were signing.
Senator Stephen Kahlow said he signed the letter without fully realizing what the letter meant. He “may have made a mistake in signing the letter,” he said.
The resolution said proper steps to object to Davis’ consideration – such as sitting in on Forum Committee meetings and signing up to be on the committee – were not taken.
The Forum committee selects candidates to speak on campus. The committee is made up of three faculty members, three community members and six student representatives.
