After the mishandled finances by University Union Cinemas this semester, members of the Student Association are working to ensure that student groups do not abuse their funding in the future.

To help prevent problems like this in the future, SA Vice President Travis Mason said he would like to organize meetings with representatives and officers from student organizations next semester when he assumes the office of SA president. The meetings will make sure everyone is on the same page with finance board procedures and expectations.

‘It’s the same issue that’s been going on year after year,’ Mason said. ‘Someone needs to sit down and look at the budget process. Someone needs to break the cycle.’

Mason said that currently there is nobody responsible for making sure UU Cinemas, or any student organization, uses its funding appropriately.

‘We need to start keeping track of organizations and make sure they’re successful in what they do. Money is serious on this campus,’ Mason said.

Currently, SA exercises control over student organizations through its funding process, increasing the funds to groups who have a past history of doing well. The SA assembly must approve all student organization budgets proposed by the finance board in order for each group to receive its cut of the student fee. After being delayed more than a week, the assembly will hold its budget meeting later this week.

When reviewing UU Cinemas’ budget proposal last semester, SA Comptroller Maggie Misztal said the finance board did not ask the organization whether or not it would be able to show movies to the student body on a regular basis because of its good reputation.

‘It was an unexpected surprise,’ Misztal said. ‘UU Cinemas has been able to consistently show movies. There’s always been a very open relationship between UU and the finance board.’

According to Misztal, UU officials have assured her that they have reorganized the Cinemas division and there will be no problems next semester.

‘I’m going on their word like we go on the word of all other student organizations,’ Misztal said.

Misztal said the finance board deliberated Sunday on student organization budgets, and she was confident it would consider UU Cinemas’ actions this semester when formulating the group’s budget.

‘(The finance board) will take (the situation with UU Cinemas) into account,’ Misztal said. ‘They all know about the issue.’

Misztal said she and the finance board were aware of UU Cinemas’ situation, but did not think anyone was to blame because there was nobody to take over the group after its head, Tom Ptasinski, resigned from the position.

But in an e-mail to The Daily Orange on Sunday, Kelley Krapp, the president of UU Cinemas for the 2003-2004 school year, said she was willing to help the organization out, but was not asked to by University Union’s president, Dennis Jacobs.

‘Dennis Jacobs failed to have the foresight to contact me, a current student, a UU Cinemas board member, and a trained coordinator to help fix the situation,’ Krapp stated in the e-mail.

Andrew Lederman, the president of SA, said that if Krapp did in fact offer her services to UU Cinemas, then the officers of UU should have gotten in touch with her sooner.

‘It may have been a case of giving up too quickly and not doing all the investigation they could have,’ Lederman said.

Lederman said a way for student organizations to avoid this problem would be to recognize young leaders in an organization early so they can be trained and ready by the time they are upperclassmen.

‘It’s important to build a base in any organization so they can continue on and instill leadership for the future,’ Lederman said.

Lederman said when the assembly votes on UU Cinemas’ budget for next semester, it will do so under the impression that the finance board had taken all variables into account when writing the group’s budget.

‘We work under the assumption that we trust the opinion of the finance board,’ Lederman said. ‘But I don’t think what UU did should stop the movies.’

Lederman added that the budgeting process for UU Cinemas is unique in that it receives money for an entire semester based on the assumption that it will regularly show movies, whereas most student organizations are funded on an event-by-event basis.

Due to the service UU Cinemas provides students, Misztal said the finance board cannot cut its funding altogether.

‘Student organizations need to be held accountable, but it is a very unique service offered (by UU Cinemas),’ she said. ‘I don’t know if (cutting funds) would be punishing the students or the organization more.’

Published on December 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm