Officers for SMU’s many organizations have been working tomake sure their programs will have enough money for the upcomingschool year and the process is not all grins and smiles.
Although the 2004-2005 budgets for student groups have alreadybeen finalized, SMU’s appropriation process allows groups tofile complaints against each other once all preliminary budgets areapproved.
Building a budget, getting it approved and hoping that anotherorganization doesn’t try to siphon off those essentialdollars is a stress felt by many group officers. They don’tlike the fact that the complaint process requires them tospecifically identify which organization they want to take moneyfrom.
Randolph Hubach, president of the SMU group Spectrum, said thathe is “not a fan” of the current system.
“What you’re having to say is that my group’swork is more important than another group’s work,” saidHubach.
To file a complaint, a group must first notify theappropriations chair by phone and submit a written complaint to theStudent Activities Center. The written complaint must specificallyinclude how much money the complaining group wants added to itsbudget, why the group needs this money, and where money should beadded in the group’s budget.
In addition, the complaint must also include the name of thetargeted organization, which part of the organization’sbudget the complaining group wants to take money from and anexplanation of why the targeted group was chosen.
This is the part of the appropriations process that Hubachdislikes, and he is not alone.
Ivory Welcome, treasurer for SMU’s Association of BlackStudents, agreed with Hubach, saying she thinks the competitivenature of the system can sometimes fuel hostility between groups,making it more difficult for them to work together.
“It can get pretty personal,” Welcome said, speakingof the complaint procedure.
She said that when her organization’s budget waschallenged by Students Promoting Awareness, Responsibility andCitizenship (SPARC), an SMU group that coordinates communityservice activities, she was initially upset about it.
“I thought in the beginning that they were challenging usbecause we’re a smaller group, and it might be easier to getmoney from us,” she said.
Welcome said that when she found out SPARC wanted the money forcommunity service projects she felt less angry about thecomplaint.
Welcome, now a member of SPARC, said in an e-mail that her angerwith the group faded because they had a good reason.
“My animosity was obviously not at all long-term once Irealized their plans for the money, and also probably because nomoney was taken from our budget … I am a member of [SPARC] andthere are no hard feelings.” Even so, Welcome said that thecomplaint initially caused her to be “a little bit turned offfrom becoming a member of the organization.”
The Student Activities Center Website (www.smu.edu/activities)said that groups should state reasons for choosing the targetedorganization’s budget and justify why theirorganization’s needs are greater.
After all complaints are submitted, hearings are scheduled. Atthe hearings, representatives from both organizations have theopportunity to debate who should have the money and why.
The final decision is voted on at a Student Senate meeting. Thisyear, that meeting took place on March 16, after four hours ofcomplaint hearings the day before.
Appropriations Chair Les Williamson said that while heunderstands why some people might not be in favor of the currentsystem, he thinks that “everyone understands the procedureand knows its not a personal attack.” He said that he hasserved on the appropriations committee since his freshman year, andsaid that the complaint hearings are consistently a civilized,controlled process.
“I don’t think [the system] fostersanimosity,” he said, “But people are very passionateabout their funding … the funding of one group directly affectsthe funding of every other group on campus. … We have a total of$525,000 to give out,” he said. “If someonedoesn’t think that they got enough, we need to know where totake from.”
He said, however, “There could be room for change. Ifanyone else has a better system, they should let us know …everyone’s suggestions are more than welcome.”
