GLBT group OUT battles debt

The University’s largest and oldest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student group is facing an uphill battle against a $3,519.30 debt.
 
OUT President Robert Clayton said some University departments have little intention of helping the group regain its footing.

“Every office on campus that has supposedly been designed to facilitate the prospering of student organizations has either thrown me a bone with no real meat on it or refused to give me anything at all,” Clayton said.

The trouble began last spring, before Clayton was president, when Miss Gay IU had a much smaller turnout than expected.

In recent years, increasing interest in OUT’s annual drag competition caused the event to outgrow its usual venue, Alumni Hall, so organizers moved it to the IU Auditorium.
But it came with a much larger price tag.

The total cost for OUT to rent the Auditorium last year was $6,605. Most Miss Gay IU events in the past have earned more money than needed to pay for the new venue, Clayton said.

For the competitions that did not, OUT was able to cover the leftover costs, Clayton said. But last year’s competition fell far too short, leaving the group owing $3,205.30.

“What’s irritating is that there’s Alumni Hall and IU Auditorium, and then there’s nothing in between those sizes,” Clayton said. “With the outrageous prices the Auditorium charges, it makes using it completely out of reach for most student
organizations.”

Additionally, Clayton said he feels that because the Auditorium is partially funded by the University, it should offer discounted rates for student groups.

IU Auditorium Events Manager Maria Talbert said, however, that the Auditorium’s funding comes from ticket sales, fundraising, general funds and facility rental. None of the money comes from students’ tuition dollars, she said, and the rental fees are, essentially, already discounted.

“Nearly all of our uses are University-related,” she said. “We offer the same discounted rate to all of our clients, and in fact, when all costs are accounted, the Auditorium underwrites each event by approximately $3,200.”

In February, Clayton met with Talbert to discuss lowering the debt and a possible payment plan, but he was unable to convince her that the amount should
be reduced.

“Currently, OUT owes us the balance of their expenses less the ticket revenue and deposit, and we are working with OUT to develop a mutually agreeable payment plan,” Talbert said.

But despite multiple fundraising attempts that include bake sales and appealing to all the members of OUT’s email list, the money to put toward a payment plan is simply not there, Clayton said.

In addition to the debt that is owed to the Auditorium, OUT owes $314 to the Indiana Memorial Union for the group’s office space.

So far, none of the money has been repaid, and OUT’s account at Student Organization Accounts, which handles all student organization financing, was frozen.
Though the SOA cannot comment directly on a specific student group’s finances, Executive Associate Bursar Kimberley Kercheval outlined what could lead to a freeze on an SOA account.

Student organizations may have accounts frozen for issues such as a negative cash balance, consistent failure to provide required documentation or failure to meet standard SOA policies, Kercheval said in an email.

“The organization is no longer considered an active SOA,” she said in the email. “Thus no financial transactions are processed and access to certain services are suspended during such a period.”

These services include writing checks and receiving tax exemption provisions — two things, Clayton said, that are essential to OUT’s ability to fundraise and pay off
the debt. 

Neither the SOA nor the IU Auditorium was able to offer a timetable of when the debts would have to be paid off or what the exact consequences would be if they remained unpaid.

Making matters even more unclear is the number of departments that have some regulation about OUT’s troubles.

The Office of Student Organizations and Leadership Development is a support system for student groups, organizing events like the IU Student Involvement Fair. Then there’s SOA, which, according to its website, provides “fiscal oversight and banking/bookkeeping services to student organizations.”

But the actual debts owed by the group are not owed to either department. The office space that OUT owes money for is owned by the Indiana Memorial Union,
Clayton said.

“The IMU has been very generous in letting us hold our office space despite the fact we owe them money,” he said.

Clayton said he plans on paying that part of the debt with money from his own pocket.
The money owed to the Auditorium, however, is too large of a sum for the president to pay off by himself.

In the last few weeks of the school year, Clayton said he will be pushing for OUT to have greater exposure again. In April, Miss Gay IU will be returning to Alumni Hall.
The semester’s final days could also be OUT’s last as a full-fledged student group, Clayton said.

“If we do not find a way to pay off the debt by the end of the year, there is a real possibility OUT might cease to be,” Clayton said.