The AU Club Council finalized its budget allocations Sunday afternoon after weeks of deliberations and appeals and a complete restructuring of the council's operations, AUCC Chair Purti Bali said.
When the final budgets were approved, the groups that received the most funding were the Latino and American Student Association, which received $6,200, the South Asian Student Association, which received $5,500, the Black Student Alliance and AU Queers and Allies, which both received $5,000.
The restructuring of the AUCC and its processes, including how organizations apply for club status and funding, came as a result of Bali's leadership. As former president of the South Asian Student Association, Bali said that the club council used to operate inefficiently and was not accessible to students.
Another problem was that the club council's rules and by-laws were vague, Bali said. There were no rules for determining how clubs could apply to become associations. As a result, Bali had to overhaul the old system and institute new operating procedures.
Once everything is settled, Bali said, another goal of the AUCC is to write a new constitution and bylaws so that there is no confusion in the future.
"We're being as transparent as possible," Bali said. "We have nothing to hide."
The club council consists of Bali, a vice chair, five caucus representatives, a graduate leadership appointee and a student government appointee. All clubs that apply for a budget are divided into five caucuses: special interest clubs, social and performing arts clubs, religious clubs, ethnic and cultural clubs and academic, service and professional clubs.
Each representative acts as a voice for all of the clubs in its respective caucuses when voting for funding. Bali and the vice chair, whom she appoints, serve as moderators for the debate.
Bali's major goal is to increase communication in all aspects of the AUCC. Previously, caucus representatives had limited contact with their clubs. This year, Bali urged representatives to be more involved with the clubs they represent.
"We are supposed to do more than just give money and put paper in the photocopy machine," she said.
The Student Government needs to approve all clubs before they can apply for a budget. All club budgets were due by Sept. 16 this year and 144 clubs applied for budgets, Bali said.
Under the rules, clubs can receive up to $5,000, and associations up to $10,000. In addition, clubs also have to fundraise 10 percent of their allocations while associations must fundraise 15 percent.
If clubs and associations submit their paperwork on time, they must attend a hearing and justify the expenses presented in their budget. The club representatives have five minutes to present, followed by five minutes where they must respond to questions from council members.
Once all the presentations are finished, club council members must deliberate until they reach a unanimous decision. Council members must attend every session where voting takes place, Bali said.
"We tried to make it so that everyone was heard," Bali said. "We're not trying to figure out a political process."
Budgets were allocated based on the history of the club, its rollover and its written budget.
"How much work you put into [the budget] shows how much you care about your club," Bali said.
The AUCC offered to help clubs prepare their budgets and hosted a workshop for leaders of clubs. The clubs that sent at least one member often received more than they expected because their budgets were what the AUCC looked for, Bali said.
After each club was given a budget, it had the opportunity to appeal for more money. Money is allocated for the entire year, but appeals take place each semester.
No club was allotted its full request for money. Twenty-six clubs signed up for an appeal, and about five did not come, Bali said.
Clubs that did appeal generally asked for an additional $100 to $200.
The AUCC views giving money to new clubs as a test to see how they handle the money so that they can apply for and receive more money in future years, Bali said.
"We need to test you," she said. "We need to see how financially responsible you are."
Democratic Women and Friends of AU sent emails to all of its members encouraging them to attend the appeal yesterday afternoon.
"We wanted to make sure AUCC saw we have a united front and we have a very strong member base that is very concerned with the resources available to us," Emily Caponetti, president of DWFAU, said.
Democratic Women and Friends received a budget of $600, up $100 from last year's budget. They spend their budget on co-sponsorships with other clubs and bringing speakers to campus as well as rewarding its members with food.
"We feel it is important that we have resources so we can take advantage of greater D.C. resources," Caponetti said.
The AUCC was forced to delay the final announcement of the budgets this year, Bali said, because 12 Kogod-related clubs were not initially approved. These clubs were forced to rewrite their constitutions to be more inclusive of the general population, she added.
As a result, Bali was forced to make a decision to go forward with the deliberations for the other non-Kogod clubs. However, she set aside money for the Kogod clubs to ensure that they had a fair chance of getting funding, and gave them an extra week to submit their budgets.
"It doesn't matter whether you're a grad or an undergrad," Bali said. "You're still an AU student, you still deserve funding."
There was some controversy over the issue of allocation for associations. Bali reiterated that no organization got everything they asked for.
She said that the reason LASO received the most money is because they sponsor the annual Latino Youth Conference, which tries to reach out to Latino high school students and get them interested in going to college. In addition, AU's Multicultural Affairs Office's budget was reduced, so it can't help LASO co-sponsor events that it previously could have.
Bali also said that council members thought it was only fair that the College Republicans and College Democrats receive equal funding, because it was vague how the College Republicans came to be an association. The Democrats were unable to become an association because of the lack of clear rules.
"We were very thrilled to see that for the first time we received equal funding with the College Republicans," said Ashley Mushnick, president of the College Democrats and a junior in the School of Public Affairs.
Both the College Republicans and Democrats received $3,500 this year. Last year the College Democrats were allocated only $2,300, Mushnick said. The College Republicans received $4,100 for the 2004-05 fiscal year, The Eagle previously reported.
"College Dems have gotten by with less money," Mushnick said. "We have a bigger and more active club on campus, so we're looking forward to competing with [College Republicans] on the same ground this year."
The College Republicans could not be reached for comment.
Bali said that even if clubs do not get the funding they asked for, they can co-sponsor events with other organizations. She plans to have a networking reception to help groups make the connections needed to co-sponsor events once the new AUCC constitution and bylaws are approved.
