SOFC adjusts group funding procedures

Due to a rapid growth in the number of student organizations on campus over the past four years, the Student Organization Finance Committee is making changes to the process for setting its annual budget.

DSG has been working with SOFC on an ongoing basis to curb excess spending, DSG President Jordan Giordano, a senior, wrote in an e-mail. Currently the two bodies are working with the University and other student organizations to make improvements to the student organization funding model.

"What the whole referendum issue did was bring excessive spending to the forefront," said DSG Executive Vice President Sunny Kantha, a senior. "Because the referendum was so public, there has been an increase in interest in excess spending."

This past September, Duke Student Government proposed an increase to the student activity fee by $60 over two years in order to address the growing number of campus groups that applied for funding. The referendum was rejected in a student body election that same month.

Last Wednesday, DSG approved a measure to set up joint sessions between SOFC and Campus Council. The sessions will hear funding proposals from existing student organizations next year.

"We've had a lot of complaints from groups who had to fill out two identical forms and make two presentations," said Campus Council President Molly Bierman, a senior.

Students looking for money to host an event will now submit one form and give one presentation at joint sessions between SOFC and Campus Council. The committees will deliberate separately and determine their own decisions about allocations, Bierman wrote in an e-mail.

"In the past we had to rely on e-mail and a liaison on both committees, which was ineffective," Bierman added. "It is not about one committee trying to influence another in their decisions."

SOFC has also been opening up communication with frequently used campus venues such as Page Auditorium in order to get an idea of the typical cost it takes to produce shows there.

DSG has already made a major change to the budget by voting last semester to cut from The Chanticleer, the University yearbook.

"[DSG] told us they were going to cut $25,000 this year," said Chanticleer Editor Devika Jutagir, a senior. "I guess they assumed it would come out of publishing costs. It was sort of non-negotiable."

The Chanticleer traditionally receives the largest amount of funding from SOFC-this year, it received $134,850. There are plans to further reduce its budget over the next few years.

"The budget still allowed them to print a yearbook of high standards, like usual," Giordano said. "We began discussions with them over the summer and worked to find a solution that made everyone happy. Their budget is the largest single expenditure, approximately one-sixth of [DSG's annual] budget."

In response to the budget cuts, The Chanticleer worked to make the annual yearbook cost-effective.

"We are very proud of our initiative to give the book [away] for free," Jutagir said. "We want to make it attractive. We don't think [ads are] consistent with our aesthetic values."

The Chanticleer has also looked into cutting production of the book in order to cut costs. Currently, it produces 4,500 books with 1,600 of those mailed out directly to the graduating class, Jutagir said.

"Really, start-up costs are expensive," she said. "There is nothing to gain by cutting production."

Even with the cuts to The Chanticleer'sexpenditures, other organizations may see slight reductions in funding.

"It's too early for me to say because I haven't seen all the applications yet, they're only just starting to trickle in," Halls said. "But that being said, my intuition is that, yes, there will be some fallback. Just based on the very simple argument that it is a single piece of a pie and we've got more charter groups than ever now because we approved several groups for charter status over the course of this year."

Many groups around campus are prepared for a possible decline in funding from SOFC.

"I assume there is crowding out with the money," said senior Aneesh Kapur, Duke Diya's president of external affairs. "There is not enough funding available for the projects we want to do."

Kapur added that cutbacks will not affect funding for major events like Awaaz, but newer projects like starting a magazine have been harder to find funding for.

"Definitely all campus organizations are feeling slight budget crunching," he said.

Black Student Alliance President Brandon Roane, a senior, said he would like to see more oversight to make sure groups are using funds appropriately. He added that it would be ideal to keep the overlap of student groups to a minimum.

"We need to make sure that we are not being overly ambitious trying to start something, but truly adding something unique to the campus," he said.