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Apr
13
2009
2009-2010 Approved General Budget
Posted by David Cohen
Please download the attatched pdf to view the entire proposed 2009-2010 General Budget
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| 0910GeneralBudget.pdf | 853.19 KB |
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Comments
I think SUp All Night should be cut entirely. Student Union groups should be doing programming, not SU itsself. That 10k could go a long way to funding groups.
agreed.....SU spends way too much money on itself
i agree, if they require all other groups to fund somethings themselves through fundraising and collaboration they should be doing the same.
And why are we required to fundraise? What's the point of the $2.2 million budget? Most schools have budgets much smaller than that and don't require groups to fundraise. Eliminate the fundraising requirement. How much fundraising can we really do, anyway? And it just detracts from our actual purpose, anyway. Charge for WILD tickets, get rid of the Newspaper's and make people subscribe if they want it.
seconded. SU has lost their focus. it is not SU's responsibility to provide programming to students. that is why there are student groups.
SUp all night is a recruitment tactic for SU and another branch of orientation. Under those conditions this money should come from SU's fundrasing or Orientation's budget. Because Orientation has a small budget as it is this should be cut.
SU should not be tricked into programing for Oreintation. It is not a student government's job to entertain new freshmen. Have them be interested for reasons other then playing games on our dime.
Use your fundraising! Stop being inappropriate.
False. The event is put on for freshman for the sake of showing them a good time during Orientation, not to recruit for SU. Normally this type of event would be thrown by the class councils, but at this point there is no freshman class council so it makes sense for SU to put this one.
then maybe the joint class council should throw it.
I'm concerned about the Equipment portion of the General Budget. There are certain groups that require large ammounts of funding for equipment and I am concerned how these groups will be able to operate by dividing up $60,000 ($45,000 allocated and $15,000 in appeals). I worry that the appeals fund would run out quickly if equipment were to break or need repairs. A broken camera for example would cost a few thousand to replace or repair. Groups such as KWUR and WUTV have budgets that consist of mainly equipment purchases: for example WUTV's proposed budget and past allocations consists of rougly 90% equipment. The allocated budgets for WUTV and KWUR for this current academic year (08-09) would surpass the total this proposal allows for equipment. I am also concerned that this allocation would not be able to fund all student groups who wish to purchase equipment.
I agree. $52K for 800 newspapers? That's a bit ridiculous. If students want the WSJ or NYT, they can subscribe.
I agree with you, however SU has recognized this issue and has been working for a while now to try to attach card-access swipers to each newspaper bin. According to Jill Carnagi these will be a definite option in the next year (at a small cost too), so hopefully we'll be able to prevent all those homeless people and professors from stealing our sudoku.
According to Jill Carnaghi? I thought this was an SU program, not a Queen Carnaghi program. Clear evidence that SU is in bed too much with the administration. Grow some balls and tell her to get out of your business. She's bad news. Ask the Greeks about her. She's not on your side. And for those that think the university could just cut SU's budget, SU has an agreement in place for 1% of tuition. And that agreement has been in place for decades. The university would have a big problem on their hands if they just up and cut the SU budget. Buy a freaking clue and get into the real world instead of whatever make believe land you're living in.
Haha, "get a freaking clue" right back at you.
Who do you think made that 1% tuition rule - the tooth fairy?
They giveth and they can taketh. Get out of your bubble. You give Greeks a bad name.
The issue with Jill Carnagi is not whether she is "letting us" setup the card readers. SU has been working hard to not only advance this issue, but also see it implemented. Unfortunately, to do that, there are a great deal of logistics to be done, such as figuring out if social-security numbers linked to our cards poses a security issue. I quoted her as a source not because she is the one dominating the discussion but because she has been an integral part in figuring out these logistics, which affect many other non SU entities on campus.
To attack the administration and say that SU is "in bed" with them may well be your right. However, I think that unnecessary brinksmanship (to use a word from a previous comment) with the administration is, in the long term, going to hurt student groups. If SU had "stuck it to the man" and simply said, "no" to the DUC contribution, student groups may have been charged to use DUC space and SU may have been billed with the full cost of the DUC space. Not only that, but it would ruin SU's relationship with the administration. Maintaining this relationship is an essential part of advocating for students. If, at such a time, it becomes necessary and justified to forsake the benefits of this relationship for the benefit of students, against the costs that we may be billed by the university and have less money for student group allocations, then SU should. Now is not the time.
Would it kill you to put page numbers on this mofo?!
"Updating the PR Laptop" ??? Is that really necessary, or even serious? Just so I have this straight, this is a laptop that only the VP of PR uses, it already cost a high sum b/c its an apple machine, and now the OS is "slow and out of date?"
I too would love for the school to buy me a personal laptop and continually upgrade the software. How can I make this happen? If I run for office, can I use student money to buy things for myself?
I seem to recall a few computer labs around campus. Some of them even run the Mac OS, and as I understand it, everyone can use them: even the VP of PR for SU.
Also, if you think you need a new mouse, go with the $10 mouse instead of the $50 platinum model
Overall, a good budget, but cutting SU's backpage advertising in Student Life is a decsion that will hurt student groups in the long run. Even though it is a big expense, that is a focal point of many groups PR campaign and offers groups an opportunity to get their events seen by students, even if studlife doesn't write an article about it.
Your point would be valid if every group go to advertise on the backpage, but the space is limited so its pretty much useless and a waste of money.
I agree that the backpage as currently utilized is pretty much useless, but I think revamping the backpage so all students CAN use it would be better than eliminating it. SU doesn't fund advertising, so how are we supposed to get the word out? This is one of the few methods out there. I say revise it to make it work better, don't eliminate it.
Anyone want to estimate on the amount of this budget that will go towards food vs. expenses relevant to the student body? Probably 2-1 ratio of food to meaningful programming support like PR and logistics.
What are you talking about? You can look at the budget an actually see how much money is going towards food...
Also, SU has rules against funding a lot of food which is why cultural groups always get screwed over
SUp All Night is a recruiting tool for student groups. Different groups have performances during the event. Last year I think the salsa team did something and one of the comedy clubs. I'm not sure if the event is worth $10,000 but stop saying that this is an event where SU self promotes because that is not the case at all.
The DUC fee is absolutely ridiculous... I would say that a lot of student groups do use it, but we don't need to be charged money, especially when student groups have spaces in Umrath that go virtually unused. We should refuse to pay that fee and use Umrath until the administration concedes
Overall, this budget looks good. It's very difficult to craft such a vast and poweful document, but I think Montana has done a great job in providing direction through it. While it's easy to complain about a laptop, mouse, or a few thousand here and there, the vast majority of this budget is exactly where it needs to be. These executives are UNPAID, and the job they're doing is phenomenal. As for the argument that "SU shouldn't cover this, the University should", that's a dangerous one. Wash U gives SU such a large budget because it expects it to take care of a big chunk of programming. If SU were to stop taking care of the DUC / newspapers etc, obvious student-centered activities, then the University could start cutting SU's budget, maybe even untying it from tuition. We're very lucky that for most things, we can appeal directly to other students and not an administrative committee.
Glad to see so many people commenting about the budget. I hope you all will come to Treasury and Senate tonight to hear David's detailed explanation of everything and also participate in the discussion.
The General Budget is a very complex document and David has done a great job of providing as many details as possible so that students have an objective way to make sense of it all. Nevertheless, there are always those things that we can do a better job communicating.
First and foremost, this budget has cut Student Union operating costs by over $25,000. With that being said, I want to note that SU operating costs are not just for the elected representatives. They go to pay for copiers, telephones, etc that all students groups use.
Secondly, we have increased student group funding by every measure in this budget. There is more money going to the Social Programming Board, more money to Class Councils, more money to School Councils, more money to category student groups and more money going to the Treasury Appeals account.
In terms of the DUC contribution, we made sure to get as much information as possible to make sure that we were making an informed decision and not one simply because it was done in the past. We were willing to give a lower amount or nothing at all if it were in the best interest of students. We know that some will disagree with the decision we've made, but please know that this decision was not made simply because someone told us to do it. It has been well researched and well thought out.
Our usage of the space in the DUC far exceeds $90,000. Our contribution directly benefits student groups because we have ensured that they will be able to have meetings in the DUC and use the recording studio for free.
I hear people saying that student groups don't use the DUC as much, or we should just go back to Umrath if the administration wants to charge for the DUC, etc. Many people fundamentally think that the University should provide resources for students and not tap into the Student Activity Fee to nickel and dime students.
Nevertheless, the DUC has a $2.8 million operating budget that must be paid somehow. Tuition doesn't cover it and it will be even worse next year given the state of the economy. Let me be clear, I do not think it is the job of the Student Activity fee to supplement the costs of University resources when the University is unable to do so. I do, however, think that it is the job of the Student Activity Fee to provide resources to students and student groups that will benefit the majority of the undergraduate population.
Student Union and student groups have the second largest space in the DUC. And, the majority of students use the DUC on a daily basis. Now, the University could charge us for our actual use of the space and we'd be paying a lot more. Or we could just say NO to the DUC all together, but what would that really accomplish?
Yes, Student Union serves every student group, but it also serves every undergraduate student as well. While we have given student groups more money in this budget, we must also consider the students who aren't involved in student groups and don't go to many campus programs. What about them? What value are they getting from their Student Activity Fee?
I think we have arrived at a practical solution where Student Union has ensured the continued operation of the DUC in its current state for the benefit of every undergraduate student, but we've also made sure that Student Union groups directly benefit from this contribution as well. When coming to a decision on this question we aimed to do what is best for students, and I think we accomplished that.
Again, I hope you all come to the meeting. All input has been very helpful!
To say that tuition doesn't cover the DUC may be technically accurate. But, do you really think the university would have built the building if they couldn't run it? They'd find a way. And the last thing they want are upset students or an empty building. SU needs to stop being the Administration's piggy bank. NO DUC fee. NO Assembly Series fee. No OSA contribution. The list goes on and on. Stand up, get a backbone.
Your misunderstanding of university finances is appalling. You expect the university to pay for everything for you. As many people would note, your tuition covers only a fraction of the total cost of coming here. Your petulant cries and assumptions that the university should provide everything at your beck and call are misguided. Like every other school, in its finances WashU is essentially a business. Things have to be paid for somehow, and if SU wanted to refuse to pay anything, the university could indeed refuse to operate these things. It has never had to, because SU negotiates with at least a modicum of good faith, understanding that somehow these things must be paid for and often it makes sense that students pay for them.
Seriously? And who do you think allows SU to have that budget? That same administration that you want to slap in the face. At a moment's notice, they can cut it in half.
While you go around pounding your chest, SU is being practical about things. They are in a constant negotiation with the administration, and that's the way it should be.
Let's not play brinksmanship with a $2+ million budget.
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