Committee spreads wealth around

Author: Cloe Shasha

The Student Government Association (SGA) Finance Committee is in charge of allocating the College's student activity fee across approximately 130 student organizations. The group meets every Wednesday to discuss requests from organizations. Caroline Woodworth '09, chair of the SGA Finance Committee, says that the committee is fortunate to have a rough estimate of the total revenue it plans to obtain at the beginning of each academic year.

"We have not seen significant changes in our funding structure for this year," Woodworth said. "In the upcoming year, however, the Finance Committee may be asked to take on additional funding requests from the administration in order to provide budgetary relief."

On a recent blog post, Acting Provost Tim Spears commented on the SGA Finance Committee's control over the $380-per-student activities fee. Because of our budget cuts, he noted, it may be time for a redistribution of power over this money.

Spears wrote, "Given the economic situation, is now the time to create a merged organization that is better able to respond to the needs of the moment and give elected representatives more authority?"

Newly elected SGA President Hiba Fakhoury '09 explained that in some sense, the elected representatives already have influence over the Finance Committee's actions.

"Some of the recommendations that the Finance Committee makes can't operate unless they have our approval," she said. "The committee recently came to us to justify their decision to keep the student activities fee at $380 for next year ... this year they feel that they do not need to raise [the student activities fee], and we voted to approve their decision."

Fakhoury remarked that throughout this year, the Finance Committee has done a great job of getting data, analyzing it and sending out surveys to improve the management of the student activities fee.

"The Finance Committee has clear guidelines about what an organization must have in order to receive funding, and if those guidelines are met, it is likely that your organization will get the money," said Fakhoury.

Despite their seemingly increasing independence, Woodworth believes the Finance Committee is still responsive to the main body of the SGA.

"While the Chair position is not directly elected, the position is approved by a Senate majority," said Woodworth. "To me, these stipulations create a strong enough chain connecting the Student Government and the Finance Committee, while still allowing the autonomy for the Finance Committee to make unbiased decisions regarding the allocation of funding."

Students not on the SGA Finance Committee expressed mixed opinions about the idea of creating a merged organization with elected representatives and current committee members. Jessica Halper '11 thinks that students in government positions, such as the SGA senators and president, should play a part in deciding where the student activities fee goes rather than only approving or disapproving of the committee's proposals.

"Because of our recent budget cuts, the Finance Committee should include people who make infrastructural changes for the College - in other words, people like the SGA president - in its decision making process about where the money should be spent," Halper said.

Emmeline Cardozo '09, on the other hand, feels that the Finance Committee should retain complete control over the student activities fee.

"I know that it is fairly competitive to join the Finance Committee," Cardozo said. "The committee seems to be like a lot of parts of the SGA in that if you don't ask about what the members do, you won't really know. But I think that the committee is well run and that the members are suited to manage the money that they currently control."

In the past few months, the Finance Committee has had to restructure several funding policies because of financial changes in other sectors of the College. All student organizations must now look to the Finance Committee for new loans and not to any other part of the College. For example, this year, Ed Hilton, assisstant director of the Controller's Office, stopped giving loans to Middlebury's a cappella groups, so the Finance Committee is now in charge of loaning money to the groups. If small monetary changes continue to develop, it is likely that the Finance Committee will have to spend the student activities fee more frugally.

Recently, the Finance Committee approved the Middlebury Mountain Club's request for an $800 loan for a training program. This program will prepare students to lead MOO trip substitutions - trips that would be paid for by participation fees. These and other loans enable campus groups to get a jump-start on social, academic and new initiatives.

When asked if they knew what the role of the SGA Finance Committee's role on the campus was, Abe Katz '11 and Lois Parshley '11 responded that they did not know what the committee does.

"I don't know anything about it," said Katz. "But I would like to know more."