Paying rent for greatness

Have you ever heard of a university department called space management?\nUntil yesterday, I hadn't either. Apparently, IU has a whole office responsible for the usage and allocation of space.\nBuilding space, that is, not outer space. But you knew that, right?\nAnyway, my discovery of the Department of Space Management was the result of a quest to find out why in the world a scholarship program would have to pay rent to the University for space. It started last week when I went to a mandatory meeting for the Hudson & Holland Scholars Program, a scholarship designed to support talented minority students at IU. At the meeting, I saw people I hadn't seen since freshman year; greetings and catching up ensued.\nI thought about how wonderful it would be if there was a central place for Hudson & Holland Scholars to meet instead of having to gather at odd times for mandatory meetings. Such a central place would foster fruitful relationships and build bonds, right?\nSeeking answers, and seeking to schedule a mandatory appointment, I visited the office of the HHSP associate director, Chandra Dyson, in the basement of Memorial Hall West. She said the program wanted to move, and they spied the empty Pi Kappa Alpha house across the street as a place to relocate. You know, the frat house that the crazy man (Rudi Yogananda) tried to turn into a homeless shelter last year. HHSP and other similar programs could make good use of the house, but there is one problem: HHSP doesn't have enough money to pay rent on the house.\nPay rent? Why would the University charge a scholarship program to rent offices? \nThe University gives money away to students through the program, but then the University requires that the program pay for its own office space? That doesn't seem to make sense.\nHHSP isn't the only charged tenant on the campus, but it may be in an original situation. I asked Doug Bauder, coordinator of campus Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services, about the situation at the GLBT Support Services Center. He made some phone calls and found out that the dean of students pays the rent for the GLBT office through the IU's University Life division. The dean also pays the rent for every other non-revenue organization under campus life. This includes La Casa and any recognized organization that meets in the Indiana Memorial Union. The dean's office also pays for the space it uses in the Union tower.\nTrevor Brown, dean of the School of Journalism, gave me a slightly different description. He told me that under new University budgetary procedures, each school or academic unit is given all of the money it "earns" in a given year from student tuition, research grants, and state and federal funding. The school then uses that money to buy supplies, computers, and pay faculty and staff. The school then pays the University for utility costs (electricity, heat, etc.). The school also pays "taxes" to the University to pay for other things that don't bring in money, like administrative staff, their offices and maintenance. Schools or academic units don't pay rent, but part of their "taxes" subsidizes student life, and they use the money to pay space management for use of things like the GLBT house. \nConfused yet? In short, it means that somehow, everything gets paid for. Under the present accounting system, it means that there are dozens of accountants for IU rather than one or two.\nWhere that system seems to be failing, however, is with HHSP. The program is a division of Academic Support and Diversity, a non-revenue administrative department. So that means the program should get money as an auxiliary of ASD, and ASD is paid for in part by the "taxes" on academic units.\nSo why can't the HHSP scholars get a house? HHSP brings in hundreds of talented minority students, lending some color to an otherwise whitewashed campus. And besides, the Wells Scholars have a house. If HHSP moves into the former Pike house, I can guarantee there won't be any keggers.