After navigating the occasionally controversial issues surrounding eligibility of student groups for segregated fee funding last week, controversy surfaced again as the student group Adventure Learning Programs appealed the Student Services Finance Committee’s budget decision Wednesday night.
SSFC denied the group extra funding for a new full-time ALPs position — experiential education specialist — on the grounds that the position was more costly without a clear explanation of its benefits over the student volunteer or student coordinator positions.
In their protest of the decision, ALPs representatives used a tub of water, a few small balls and a brick to illustrate the importance of the proposed position to the program’s student outreach.
The balls symbolized the role of the coordinators, and a brick represented the permanent position’s impact. As these objects were dropped into a tub of water, the balls had a small ripple effect while the brick created a tidal splash.
The ALPs representatives said this presentation showed the profound, far-reaching effect a full-time employee would have on the student body.
When ASM council representative Tom Clark asked ALPs if the same level of service could be met without a full-time employee, student coordinator Kat Findley said the impact of the student coordinators was too transitory to have a lasting effect.
“The continuation process is very important,” she said, adding that when ALPs student workers graduate, projects are nearly impossible to continue, making it difficult to maintain a consistent level of service.
In other business, SSFC unanimously granted the budget requested by the Rape Crisis Center. The Legal Information Center was also given funding after debate over some points of its request.
SSFC member Tom Clark questioned the large sum of money the organization requested for office supplies and computer software. The center’s budget for those items was decreased.
Three other campus organizations — Sex Out Loud, the Polygon Engineering Council and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Campus Center — also presented their budget requests before the SSFC.
Sex Out Loud, which conducts programs focusing on safe sex, healthy relationships and sexual pleasure, pointed out that this organization is one that uniquely reaches out to the student body.
Project coordinator Megan Benson stated that Sex Out Loud is a way for students to not only educate themselves on a broad variety of topics, but is also a place to receive free condoms. Benson said at the beginning of the school year the organization had a supply of 5,000 condoms, and now are down to only 3,000. Benson said this fact demonstrates that Sex Out Loud is in need of funding to continue its influence on the student body.
“It’s really important that we’re here and we’re visible and we’re loud,” Benson said.
The Polygon Engineering Council is a student-run volunteer program that “acts as an umbrella” for over 50 groups. The council said it needs funding for the many events it sponsors, such as Battle of the Bands and a four-day engineering career fair.
“It is the greatest opportunity for students to find jobs, and many engineers do,” said a council representative.
The LGBTCC representatives said they hope to increase publicity and purchase updated computer materials to further their goal of reaching out to the university’s LGBT community and their allies.
Despite their differences in missions and goals, each organization expressed a desire to use budgeted funds to hire a full-time employee. Many representatives pointed out that the groups are run by students, and for many, the workload has become too much. Thus, program leaders say an additional staff member is necessary not only to alleviate staff workloads but also to continue programs in the future.
“It’s a lot of time, and we’re pushing them hard,” Benson said of the employees at Sex Out Loud.
