Student Government (SG) and the University Activities Board (UAB) received the highest cut of change in the 2013-2014 Student Organization Budget Committee (SOBC) distribution.
The Student Organization Board Committee (SOBC) has allocated $615,000 to more than 50 organizations on campus, according to Gary Dickstein, co-chair of the SOBC and vice president of student affairs. SG requested $119, 702, a $6,615 decrease from last year. UAB, which promotes activities and programs for the entire campus, requested $244, 677, but they received $109, 120. The SOBC main function is to fund all student organizations across the campus. They decide what organization to fund and how much funding they should receive.
There are an estimated 200 clubs on campus and only 80 organizations applied to receive funding, this year, Dickstein said.
The committee is made up of about five to eight members, who come from various organizations on campus both big and small. New members will be appointed in Jan. or Feb. SG appoints two to three members and the vice president’s office appoints the rest, Dickstein said.
“We try to create a committee that is representative of the student body,” Dickstein said. “Graduate, undergraduates, students from different organizations both small and large, anything that you can think of in terms of how our students are represented— and we try to mirror that as best as we can.”
Within the SOBC committee, the “Big 6,” a nickname given to the largest six organizations on campus receives the largest portion of the money. These clubs include: SG, UAB, Black Student Union, Rainbow Alliance, Greek Affairs Counsel, and Asian Hispanic Native American Association.
The smallest amount awarded was $500 to the history club. “I like the fact that your peers are evaluating each other and saying ‘of our tuition dollars, this is where we want our tuition dollars to go,’ Dickstein said. “And they get to support their peers and their efforts to make a difference on campus.”If an organization does not spend all of its money toward the end of the year, the money is then put back into an account for the next year, Dickstein said
