Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Student treasurers take note –this year at spring budgeting, each chartered group will automatically receive $15 for photocopying and $60 for all-campus events, even if they don’t request it.
The Student Budget Committee only has ten minutes to spend with each group during spring budgeting. By introducing these standard allocations, says SBC Manager Veronika Dubajova, SBC hopes to “increase the amount of time that the committee has to look at increases in other subcodes… we hope to have more time to focus on the more important and complicated aspects of budget proposals.”
The new standard budget could have a positive effect on campus life as a whole. Sixty dollars for all-campus events is equivalent to one large study break or two smaller study breaks. Dubajova explains that groups that didn’t do study breaks before “will have sixty dollars to do recruiting now… this will help increase group visibility and student access.”
The amounts were decided based on past spending patterns. In the past, groups that requested funding for photocopies generally received $25, but SBC noticed that groups were generally not spending that full amount. The standard amount for groups that requested funding for all-campus events was $40, but Dubajova says that SBC “decided to increase the amount because of inflation.”
In other changes, the standard allocation for an assistant coach for a club sport has been increased from $750 to $1000, and the maximum allocation for closed group events has been increased from $100 to $250.
SBC still has approximately half of the Fun Fund left to give out–the fund started with forty thousand dollars, and Dubajova reported that “we have approximately twenty thousand left.” Among other events, this money helped to fund the Diablos drag king performance during Sager. In the future, money from the fund has been allocated to the upcoming weekend’s Mangoes with Chili performance, an event for Peace Week called Remembering Rwanda, and the “Float” party in Olde Club for the second half of April.
The Fun Fund will also be purchasing a ping-pong table for Mephistos and giving money to the Swarthmore Sitting Group, a meditation club. The Sitting Group will be starting a small collection of meditation-related books in McCabe and also bringing meditation teachers to campus.
