This past weekend, the Finance Commission of Student Community Government, Inc. met for two days of intense annual Budget Hearings. As a result of the hearings, The Anchor has learned, many student clubs and organizations at RIC will be left with smaller budgets next year than they had this academic year.
22 clubs have been assigned budgets for the 2010-2011 year that are smaller than the ones they had for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. The clubs taking the biggest hits are Amnesty International, the Communications Club, Latin American Student Association, L.I.F.E., OASPA and Rainbow Alliance. The budget for Amnesty was 100 percent eliminated after most of the paper work did not match records that SCG had for the club, and they were determined to be a "non-compliance" organization. This action will most likely cap the club at a budget of no more than $2,000 for the next academic year.
The second largest decrease went to LASO. LASO has a budget of $10,951 for 2009-2010 and had taken the rare act of asking for a slight decrease for next year, asking for $10,351. After much debate, the club received far less, taking a 40 percent budget cut, and was recommended to receive $6,536. Several Finance members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the numbers are not yet final, remarked that LASO had a "poor presentation" and that the club "didn't seem active."
One of the more shocking cuts was the one to L.I.F.E., which was a new club and was going for their first un-capped budget. When under the cap, they could only receive $2,000, and asked for $7,445 for next year. This practice of a large increase is common when groups come off the cap. After a long debate, the L.I.F.E. budget was slashed to only $425. The large cut was made even after SCG Secretary Shawn Andrews, in his annual report to Finance, gave L.I.F.E. high marks and a "recommended without reservation" funding categorization.
Finance members remarked in post-meeting interviews that "the club just did not seem active," yet in the Secretary's report the club had filed the third-most Program Evaluations with SCG, which are the official mark of a club's activity on campus. Finance received these reports during the hearings.
When asked about the clubs that took major cuts for next year, SCG Treasurer Christopher Kelly declined to comment, saying that the numbers were not official yet. He added via text message, "I don't want clubs who got cut big finding out through the paper, that will be a nightmare."
One club, that on paper took an increase, but after the addition of annual events took a decrease was WXIN. This cut came even after the Secretary's report gave WXIN the highest marks – the only perfect rating among all 50 funded organizations this year.
RIC Radio saw an overall increase of $3,901, but $5,000 of that increase came from the inclusion of both the annual Rock Hunt and the Back to School BBQ as budgeted events for the first time. Many of the club's operating lines, including DJ Service and Repair and Maintenance were cut substantially or even zeroed out.
WXIN General Manager Nicholas Lima declined to comment, saying that "he had no comment until the official numbers were released," yet in reaction to the proposed cuts WXIN Program Director Levi Garrett had plenty to say.
"If true, it is complete and total BS," Garrett told The Anchor. "We work hard as a radio station to improve our image, and improve our spending so that we can provide the campus with quality and informative programming."
He continued, "When you hear these things, that your budget is getting cut, it is discouraging, especially as a senior and this being my last year here and wanting to leave XIN in better shape than when I joined. Chris Kelly is making this harder for us to do that if this is true."
The Resident Student Association has requested an increase in Community Programs for several years, ever since New Hall was built. Once again, this increase was denied. RSA requested $29,900 and was only given $14,800. This cut also came after the Secretary's report gave RSA one of the highest scores, giving the club a "recommendation without reservation."
Other prominent clubs to take a cut included Political Science, RIC Middle School, English and Physical Science, which took a combined cut of more than 15 percent per club.
Even though the majority of clubs took a decrease, some clubs got an increase for next year from the current year. The largest of these was Anchor TV, closely followed by RIC Hockey. Yet, even with the tentative increases, these clubs are not guaranteed to return their budget letter as "satisfied," the reason being that both of these clubs received over 30 percent less than they had requested for next year.
RIC Ice Hockey had requested one of the largest increases overall. In a letter attached to their budget, Athletic Director Don Tencher explained that most of this increase was due to the fact that they wished, as a safety and insurance matter, that a medical professional be at every practice. For this year medical staff are only at games, and not practices.
Anchor TV also saw a large increase, as this is the organization's first year as un-capped club. They had asked for $16,600 and received $10,050. Most of these cuts came from the stipend line item. Some Finance members allegedly accused the club of "not doing all that much" this year, despite the organization's establishment of an operational television station and coverage of hundreds of campus events since September.
Other clubs to get an increase in funding for next year were the Accounting Club, Ballroom Dance, Intervarsity, and Ultimate Frisbee. Yet, all of these clubs also received far less than requested.
After all the debate, some clubs were offered more funding than they even requested. The Debate Council, Out of Bounds and the Student Nursing Association were among these. They all received more money than they had placed in their original budget request.
is a member of the 
6 comments