The American University Club Council released its 2004-2005 club allocations, worth more than $105,000 for about 130 clubs, on Monday. The AUCC is the student-run organization that determines how much money student clubs receive for their yearlong activities.
The Alternative Break club received the most money this year, getting $16,500 - $12,000 more than the Student Organization for African Studies, the second-highest ranked club. However, AB was displeased to receive money from the AUCC.
"It is totally inappropriate that we have to ask for money from the club council," said Michael Haack, president of AB. "Many departments here at AU benefit from our trips. They should be the ones to fund our programs."
In previous years, money was allocated to organizations based on club or association status, according to the Student Activities Web site. Associations were organizations with at least 25 members and had been active for at least five consecutive years. They could receive up to 10 percent of the AUCC budget, but also had to do more fund-raising than clubs.
Although AB meets these requirements, a Student Activities Fall 2004 list defines it as a club. Since it is a club, its allotment - which is more than 10 percent of the AUCC budget - is against the current AUCC by-laws, except that the by-laws are being modified, according to Jared Hall, caucus representative for the AUCC.
"There is no association status this year," said Hall. "This decision was made to be fair to all clubs." However, Hall said the AUCC does consider the longevity and membership of clubs in allotting money.
"They were changing last year and are continuing to be revised this year," Hall said. "Specific things haven't been changed in the by-laws yet because we wanted to get the allocations out as soon as possible."
AUCC Chair Mercedes Warren was unavailable for comment.
In addition to ASB, the SOFAS was one of the clubs to receive the most money for 2005.
"All of us were extremely happy and honored when we heard the news [Tuesday]," said Milena Bareket, president of the SOFAS. "Club members, along with SOFAS's faculty adviser, Dr. Peter Lewis, have clearly done an amazing job bringing Africa to AU, and it's obvious that AUCC has recognized our hard work and dedication," said Bareket. "We are truly appreciative and will continue upholding SOFAS's purpose, which is to celebrate Africa, in all of her dimensions, with the AU campus community."
The AU College Republicans received significantly more than the College Democrats, with each club getting $4,100 and $2,300 respectively.
"We were given significantly less than what we requested given how active our club has been," said Greg Wasserstrom, president of the AU College Democrats. "I understand that there are a lot of groups and there is a limited pool. ... Although we didn't get a large amount of money, I am not too concerned."
The College Republicans were satisfied with their allotment.
"I am very happy with the allocation given to us by the AUCC," said Mike Inganamort, president of the AU College Republicans. "We plan to put the money given to us to good use and to use every penny in an economic way."
Sarah Ahmed, president of the Muslim Student Association, is disappointed in the $2,500 that was given to her group. "We received $1,000 less than last year which is disappointing ... We didn't receive as much as we could have, I am a little frustrated."
The Catholic Student Association is one of the groups that received a large drop in funds from previous years, going from $1,750 to $450. President Erin Hinchey is disappointed in the lack of funding for the CSA, which she says has 200 students.
"The way I look at it, it's a dollar per student which we need to fund but now we can't do much without the money," Hinchey said. "What we expected to do last year has already been set ... basically we can't do these things or we'll have to find other funds."
The Student Activities calendar slotted Oct. 1 as the date the club allocations would be announced, but the last budgetary hearing wasn't concluded until Oct. 9. Under last year's by-laws, the AUCC would have had to notify each club within five days of that date.
However, official announcements were held up because Student Activities could not approve the allocations based on how it was submitted.
"We had to send it back the first time because it didn't have the information we needed ... it wasn't in spreadsheet form, we couldn't follow it, the amounts were improperly coded," said Chad LaDue, Student Activities financial administrator. "The first thing was literally cut and pasted, a piece of paper literally stapled to another piece of paper. It wasn't up to par with our standards."
Because the allocations were held up, some club leaders expressed concern, saying they could not plan programs if they did not know how much money they would have, The Eagle reported Oct. 18.
Student Activities compromised to alleviate this problem, according to LaDue.
"Given that allocations were held up we were working with program advisors who worked with students so that planning programming wouldn't be held up," LaDue said, explaining that they allowed some established student clubs to plan programming based on estimates of how much money they would receive. "Hopefully they would get the award and if not, [Student Activities] would [cover] that." LaDue added that while Student Activities would have covered this, that they were "very cautious" in what they allowed students to program without knowing their budgets.
However, though LaDue said he doesn't believe getting the allocations out has ever been "this much of a problem" he said the caucus leaders do a good job.
"We've been working them since the summer about what we needed to see and I know the caucus leaders worked really hard and I commend them," LaDue said. "I think students want their money as soon as possible and there's a lot of pressure. It's a very difficult job and they work very long hours."
The allocation process occurs every fall for all new and existing clubs and again in the spring for any new clubs, according to the Student Activities Web site.
Eagle Staff Writers Stokely Baksh and Anne Godlasky contributed to this article.
Top 10 groups/associations on campus that received allocations for 2005:
| Alternative Spring Break | $16,500 |
| Student Organization for African Studies | $4,800 |
| College Republicans of AU | $4,100 |
| Team Running Heads | $3,800 |
| On A Sensual Note | $2,800 |
| Muslim Student Association | $2,500 |
| Queers and Allies | $2,500 |
| Habitat for Humanity | $2,400 |
| Asian Student Association | $2,300 |
| College Democrats of AU | $2,300 |
Bottom 10 organizations on campus that received allocations for 2005:
| Bahai Club | $50 |
| Solidarity Committee | $50 |
| Sew What? | $50 |
| Transfer Transitions: Transfer Student Alliance | $50 |
| Unitarian Universalists | $95 |
| Treble in Paradise | $100 |
| Rude Mechanicals AU's Shakespeare Troupe | $100 |
| College Moderates | $100 |
| AU Socialists and Social Democrats | $200 |
| AU Gamers | $205 |
Organizations with considerable differences in allocations from 2004 and 2005:
Decreased:
| Queers and Allies | $5,000 | to | $2,500 |
| Catholic Student Association | $1,750 | to | $450 |
| MoGit | $1,700 | to | $250 |
| Facilitating Leadership in Youth | $1,200 | to | $850 |
| Hip Hop Zone | $1,150 | to | $450 |
| Students for Israel | $1,000 | to | $450 |
| Screaming Eagles | $600 | to | $350 |
Increased:
| Alternative Spring Break | $9,000 | to | $16,500 |
| Team Running Heads | $2,200 | to | $3,800 |
| Student Organization for African Studies | $900 | to | $4,800 |
| United Methodist Student Association | $500 | to | $1,800 |
| Barkada: The Philippine Society | $200 | to | $750 |
| Design Club | $500 | to | $900 |
| Dime-a-Dozen | $1,500 | to | $1,900 |
| South Asian Student Association | $250 | to | $700 |
| In Motion | $0 | to | $3,960 |
