Proposed Changes to the Funding of Speakers
The goal of the Montana administration is to give student groups more financial resources to plan bigger and better events in a manner that is both strategic and characterized by a vision of the benefits for the greater Wash. U. community. To this end, we are proposing to change the process by which student groups bring speakers to campus.
We don't want to enact this change without getting feedback from as many people as possible, so it is very important that you post comments to this blog post with any thoughts you have on the issue. Before I outline the proposed changed, I want to summarize the current process.
Current Process:
- There are two processes by which student groups can get funding for speakers: the Assembly Series and the Treasury appeals account.
- Student Union makes a annual contribution to the Assembly Series. In the past this contriburation has ranged between $40,000-$100,000.
- Student groups interested in having an Assembly Series speaker can apply to the Assembly Series with a list of potential speakers and a list of potential topics.
- The Assembly Series committee (made up of faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students) generally makes decisions based on which student group is making the request and the topic that the student group proposes as opposed to the particular speaker that would potentially come.
- Based on the amount of SU's contributions, the Assembly Series committee divides the funding among the number of groups selected.
- Based on the amount available to each group, the Assembly Series committee works with the group to bring a speaker in the available price range.
- If the student group does not get a speaker through the Assembly Series, they have the option of appealing for one to the Treasury.
- The Treasury views appeals on a case by case basis and decides funding based on what speaker the group wants to bring as opposed to who the sponsoring group is.
- If possible, speakers funded through the Treasury appeals account can be added to the Assembly Series lineup; however, this is often not possible.
We have our own concerns with the current process; however, we have also talked to Barbara Rea from the Assembly Series committee, other Administrators that deal with speaker logistic and students who have experience in brining speakers to campus. Here is a summary of some of the reasons why we have concluded that the current process is unfair and inefficient.
Problems with Current Process:
- The two processes for funding speakers with money from the Student Activity Fee are inconsistent. Appeals sent to the Assembly Series committee are often judged based on the student group and the potential topics whereas appeals sent to Treasury are often judged based on the actual speaker that would come to campus.
- The current system does not encourage student groups to plan speaker events earlier in the year. As a result, events are often put together in only a couple of weeks and many logistical matters are not properly taken care of, causing SU to spend more money than originally needed.
- Attendance at speaker events is often lower than anticipated because student groups aren't able to fully publicize the events in such limited time.
- The money that SU allocates to the Assembly Series is controlled by a committee of faculty and students; however, elected Treasury Representatives have no vote in the process.
Generally speaking, we want to see a unified process for funding speakers with the Student Activity Fee. With that being said, we want to continue to collaborate with the Assembly Series because they offer benefits that can enhance events that feature speakers
Benefits of the Assembly Series
- Students know that the Assembly Series carries a cache; the imprimatur elevates it from being just another student group program to a University program. It is an immediately recognizable brand throughout the University community.
- Assembly Series brings professional event planning experience to the table. They can negotiate speakers’ contracts and handle events logistics and public relations. They can be a liaison among speakers’ agencies and vendors, and coordinate all the elements that go into a program (A/V, facility reservations and setup, hotel, air travel, hospitality, etc.) Also, they know how to correctly budget for a speaker’s visit; students are consistently low in estimating the real costs (since they generally don’t know all that’s involved in bringing someone to campus).
- Assembly Series has experience collaborating with disparate groups to make a great program happen. They can easily connect student groups with schools/departments/programs/other groups that can bring resources with them and save SU money.
- Assembly Series we can create auxiliary events that provide meaningful, face-to-face interaction between students and the speaker. (Example: Janine Benyus: Without the collaboration of the schools of engineering and art & architecture with Engineers without Borders, plus a large number of other academic depts. and student groups, the Benyus program, which was hugely successful by all measures, would not have happened, with or without Treasury backing.)
In order to alleviate the concerns outlined above and to continue working with the Assembly Series for the benefits mentioned above, the Montana administration is proposing a new process.
Proposed Process:
- The Student Union General budget will contain a line item for a general appeals account and another line item for an Assembly Series Speaker appeals account.
- Any student group that wishes to bring a speaker to campus will submit an application to the Assembly Series committee during the summer.
- The Assembly Series committee will vet the application and determine the feasibility of bringing the speaker to campus as a part of the Assembly Series.
- The Assembly Series committee will make a recommendation to the Treasury regarding the student group's application.
- The student group will appeal to Treasury for funding from the Assembly Series Speaker account.
- The Assembly Series Speaker account will have a deadline of late September or early October.
- Any funds remaining in the Assembly Series Speaker account after the deadline has passed will be transferred to the general appeals account.
- Any student group will have the opportunity to appeal to the general appeals account for a speaker; however, the likelihood that it will be funded or added to the Assembly Series schedule will be decreased.
We think this proposed plan alleviates the concerns that I've outlined in this blog. In particular, it encourages groups to plan speaker events early, but is flexibile enough to handle the rare instances when student groups are presented with opportunities to bring speakers to campus later in the year.
In order for the proposed plan to be enacted, it must be approved by Senate and Treasury with the general budget. We want to know what you think. Leave comments with any feedback or email Vice President of Finance, David Cohen at finance@su.wustl.edu
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Comments
Alright- I really like this proposed change. It streamlines the process for everyone, and encourages people to be more on top of their stuff. The only thing that worries me is the early deadline for the Assembly Series Appeals account.
With a great number of speakers, the inspiration to invite them to campus doesn't occur until later- would it be possible to move that date back? Perhaps by November?
Besides that, I'm in favor
Will, As of now, the late September/early October was just an idea we had for what would give Assembly Series enough time to help effectively publicize the event, and also leave enough time to have maybe one event in the later part of the fall. However, I definitely understand why the later date could be beneficial as well. I think Barb will be attending the General Budget meeting Tuesday, and perhaps we could bounce the idea of a later date off of her. I definitely think it's possible.
I am not concerned why this process is being re-evaluated. I do think that the current means of getting a speaker on campus is a bit unorganized and leads to a waste of student funds and under attendance at events.
What I am concerned about is where this proposal places Assembly Series in the process. I am a very big fan of Assembly Series and the people that work to make it happen, namely Barb Rea and Kurt. What I like about assembly series is that they aim to bring a diverse range of speakers to campus that are not necessarily big names but provide more than an entourage, they provide substance. The Assembly Series brand is built on that concept.
SU wishes for groups to better plan their events so money is not wasted and so people show up to hear the speakers being brought – great! Using the Assembly Series as a template for how to run Student Activities funded speakers –great. We should take their framework of preparation and responsibility and apply it to an all-Undergraduate student process. There is no reason why Faculty or Graduate Students should have a say on how we – the Undergraduate population spend our activities fee.
I understand that they merely give a recommendation and the real decision lies with treasury I still feel this is a topical fix to a deeper problem. A problem which consists of poor follow up on speakers from SU officials [making sure everything is handled in a responsible fashion, that hotel, security, av ect.. is all accounted for]. Moreover I agree with will that the early deadlines for this fund will decrease creative ideas and last minute opportunities for student groups to host speakers.
Overall, Assembly Series is great at what is does and I do believe that we should contribute money to their fund. But I feel that if what SU sees as necessary are more sophisticated guidelines and follow up policies for groups then we should work on it in house. Barb Rea is a great resource to use as an administrator and we should meet with her but SU should re-evaluate this proposed change.
Assembly Series is a great tradition that should remain its own entity. Student Groups and SU can make the process for having speakers on campus more streamlined and in turn can create better events, it just needs to do it separately.
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence, but at the risk of sounding too modest, we're only doing our jobs! Thankfully, it's a job Kurt and I love.
Ben and Will have considerable practical experience with bringing speakers to campus and with working with the Assembly Series, and they both make excellent points in their posted comments, above.
Regarding the deadline: Just an idea, but perhaps student groups would prefer establishing TWO deadlines: The late Sept./early Oct. deadline is critical for us to begin planning the spring 2010 series (emphasis on "begin") We have to start our planning by then, but we don't have to have the entire schedule planned, so we could, if SU thinks it's a good idea, establish a second deadline, around early to mid November, to catch any late, great, ideas.
How we would allocate the funds between the first and second wave of speaker ideas could get dicey, but I'm sure with some thought we can figure out a way. We absolutely can't wait any later, since that will give us only a couple of months to finish the schedule. As groups who've brought speakers to campus already know, it's rare to get the first, even second or even third speaker on their list, which translates into alot of wasted time.
In concluding, I want to note that #4 under "Current Process" isn't quite accurate, in that the Assembly Series Committee does not base its decisions on the student group sponsoring a speaker; the Committee is only interested in the speaker idea, based not only on whether members think the potential speaker has something relevant to say to the student body, but also whether the speaker is a good fit in the context of the entire semester schedule. While student groups are naturally concentrating on speakers or topics of interest to them, the Assembly Series Committee is charged with creating a diverse, balanced group of individuals, who, taken together, create a varied, substantive group of people who will hopefully appeal to a wide student audience.
Even with complete support from the Committee, this new process allows Treasury reps to have a say in the process, creating a more "democratic" method of decision-making.
I welcome any comments or questions, and would be happy to discuss any information on the old process or the new process in more detail.
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