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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

student life

Union Board adjusts to less funding

As the new IU Union Board directors begin their terms of office this spring, reduced funding from the University is making the organization rethink how they program campus events.

“It’s not necessarily affecting how we’re working, it’s just causing us to be more critical of our program proposals and finding cost-effective ways to reach the students in ways we haven’t explored before,” Eric Farr, vice president of programming for Union Board, said.

Mandatory fees charged to students besides tuition are altered based on recommendations given by the Committee for Fee Review, a group consisting of seven student members appointed by the IU dean of students.

Union Board will lose 4 cents per semester per student — more than $3,000 per year — beginning fall 2013 based on the most recent proposal by the Committee for Fee Review, Jared Thomas, Union Board president, said. The current Union Board directors will oversee this budget.

The board does receive some funding from other campus organizations they partner with or for specific programs from the Dean of Student’s Office. However, this is not guaranteed from year to year. Most Union Board funding comes from the Committee for Fee Review.

All student organizations requesting funds must present their fiscal plans to the committee annually so the committee can recommend funding proposals to the board of trustees and campus administration in time for fees to be set for the upcoming two academic years.

The organization is co-chaired by the president of the IU Student Association and the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization.

“We share with them what we’ve been doing and they make recommendations how we can be more transparent — different things with the handling of our funds,” Thomas said.

The reduction in funds is not unique to this most recent reevaluation of student fee allocation. Union Board lost 70 cents per student per semester in 2011, more than $50,000 of the annual budget.

“We weren’t happy about it, but it could have been worse,” Thomas said. “With the cuts we’re still trying to do as much as possible, but we’re trying to be creative.”

All IU students enrolled in more than three credit hours pay $89.62 per semester in activity fees in addition to tuition. This payment is divided between campus organizations such as Campus Recreational Sports, IU Student Association and Union Board, among others.

“A lot of boards that are starting in January are feeling the effects of reports done by boards that were before them,” Erin Brown, director of external affairs, said. “But we do go back and look at those previous reports and recommendations that were given before we were here and we still try to implement those.”

While the funding reduction does not directly affect IU tuition, the Union Board is charged with organizing and funding prominent campus events and activities such as the Union Board film series at Whittenberger Auditorium, the official Little 500 concert and a variety of speakers such as Karl Rove and Robert Gibbs last fall.

Thomas, Farr and Brown, who were all executive board members last term, understand that debts accumulated by unsuccessful events by past administrations are now the responsibility of the current Union Board.

“Some of these losses go back three or four years ago. In addition to the cuts, we’re acting on a slightly smaller budget. So if anything we’re cutting back on the food we do at events and participating in more co-sponsorships,” Farr said.

“Seeing the difference between 70 cents and the 4 cents this year shows we have room for improvement, but that we have been doing well considering the recommendations given to us two years prior,” Brown said.

Along with a greater emphasis on student opinion, cost-efficiency and criticism of program proposals, Union Board hopes to prevent funding cuts in the future by working smarter in the present.

“Whenever you are cutting things you don’t need I think it could turn into a beneficial scenario,” Brown said. “The only option we have is to make it work.”

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