Duke Student Government legislators reviewed and approved the budgets proposed by the Student Organizational Finance Committee at their general body meeting Wednesday. Legislators also heard the first reading of amendments and additions to the SOFC bylaws and elected five members and the chair of next year's SOFC.
In total, the SOFC allocated $421,696.45 in annual budgets to about 120 student groups and $55,000 for programming fund requests next year.
The 10-member organization, chaired by junior Pushpa Raja, reviewed annual budget requests from DSG-chartered student groups and interviewed group representatives before allocating funds.
As it has for many years, The Chanticleer - Duke's yearbook - received the largest budget of any group at $126,580, about 23.66 percent of the total budget. The Duke Undergraduate Publications Board and the Sports Club Council were the next two highest recipients, with $70,156.50 and $52,712.04, respectively.
SOFC allocated the fourth-largest amount, $35,833.38, to DSG. This amount is about half its current budget of $62,164. The USA Today Newspaper Readership program will use about $20,000 of DSG's budget next year, Raja said.
"The DSG requested budget was actually a lot less as well," Raja added.
Most of the student activities fee increase of $8.50 per semester went into the Speaker and Non-traditional Costs Fund, which received $45,805.19 for group costs such as speaker honoraria and travel. Next year, Raja added, students will have more opportunity to decide how the student activities fee increase money is allocated.
Phil Kurian, chair of the student funding task force that has been reviewing the funding process, proposed amending a DSG bylaw toward that end. The proposed bylaw changes include requiring groups to provide more information to SOFC regarding their University and Cultural Fund budgets and how much money they have used in the past.
"We want to make sure that there's some accountability in the system," said Kurian, who is also a columnist for The Chronicle.
Under the proposed amendments, SOFC would also organize a mandatory informational meeting on funding and event planning with the Office of Student Activities for all student groups.
In its review, the student funding task force found that organizations that depend on travelling - especially Duke's Mock Trial team and Model U.N. - suffered from SOFC's policy of not funding lodging or entertainment expenses, Kurian said. The amended bylaws would allow SOFC to fund travel for groups whose activities absolutely require travel, excluding the Sports Club Council, at the committee's discretion.
"We want to emphasize that this is a limited basis," Kurian said.
DSG legislators elected sophomore Kristen Jackson, currently vice chair of SOFC, as the committee's chair next year. Legislators also elected five of SOFC's 10 members for next year: junior Adam Katz, junior Edward Keith, sophomore David Rausen, junior Drew Steinberg and sophomore Andrew Wisnewski.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: Legislators approved DSG President-elect Matthew Slovik's remaining cabinet nominations: Raja for chief of staff, junior Rick Garcia for director of student services, junior Quinton Walker for treasurer, sophomore Trey Williams for director of undergraduate computing and sophomore Kirstin Hopkins for director of public relations.
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