The Student Association Finance Board’s system of allocating funds for registered student organizations is extensive and fair. However, SA must remain considerate of newer student groups when the past successes of an organization are a factor in budget decisions.

It is clear that SA puts a considerable amount of time and thought into RSO budget allocations, but the Finance Board must maintain a fair balance when distributing funds between well-established campus organizations and newer student groups. Board members should remain considerate of RSOs’ efforts and avoid discouraging organizations on campus that are trying to get themselves off the ground.

The board voted earlier this week to package $685,000 in spring 2016 funding for RSOs after the board carried out deliberations for more than $1.5 million in budget requests, which was an average amount, SA Comptroller Phil Kramer said. When the board is voting on proposals, Kramer said approving a budget essentially comes down to whether the board feels the RSO can succeed in holding the event it has requested money for.

Like the budget process, the process to even become a recognized student organization requires dedication. For this reason, every RSO on the Syracuse University campus is entitled to some funding and should ideally be able to hold at least one event per academic year.

RSOs should never be turned away by SA on the basis of their relatively new status. If the members of the Finance Board reject an idea by placing too much emphasis on fact that it has never been done before, the board, and the respective RSO, will never know if that event would have been successful in the first place.

That being said, SA’s existing budget application process is a practical system of evaluation in which decisions are made as a logical compromise between RSOs’ requests and the limits of SA’s budget.

The board members take a rational approach in ensuring that the events that appeal most to a wider demographic of students, rather than a niche group, can be considered for more funding. But while the legitimacy of a student group is a valid question to pose during budget deliberations, being an RSO warrants the right to be fully considered for funding in itself.

Though the system is imperfect, it is fair. However, while having a straightforward way to addressing the upwards of $1 million in requests each semester is efficient, SA must remember to not exclude the groups that are working to establish themselves on the SU campus.

Published on October 29, 2015 at 12:29 am

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