By Michele Richinick
Members of at least 15 student organizations are calling for reform of the budgeting process used by the Budget Review Committee (BRC) because they believe larger groups, namely fraternities and sororities, are getting priority funding.
The BRC, a subcommittee of the Student Government Association (SGA), allocates money to student groups through the $109 Student Activity Fee that each student pays annually as a part of tuition. Student groups must appeal to the BRC for funding at least six weeks and no more than 10 weeks in advance of the event they are seeking funding for.
The student group NU Concerned Student Organizations (CSO), made up of 15 student groups, was created to protest the budgeting process, said Carlos Arroyo, president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, which is part of the CSO. CSO advocates that the BRC reform its budgeting process because its members feel the current system favors bigger organizations who put on larger programs and appeal for funding far in advance, he said.
“Northeastern wants to be diverse, and it’s great, and I’m all for that,” Arroyo said. “But the BRC in particular is not giving funding to diverse groups to put on diverse programs.”
Of the 63 events brought before the BRC since the beginning of the BRC’s fiscal year in July, 53 were funded, based on numbers from BRC allocation reports obtained by The News through SGA President Rob Ranley. Of those 53 groups, 23 were Greek organizations and 30 were non-Greek organizations.
Greek organizations have a significantly lower rate of denied funds per program requested than all other student organizations. Out of the approved programs, the total amount of money denied to Greek organizations divided by the amount of requests by Greek organizations yields an average of about $2,021.04 in denied funds per Greek event since July. The total amount of money denied to all non-Greek student groups, however, divided by the number of requests by all non-Greek student groups, yields an average of about $5,081.47 in denied funds per student group event.
Ayesha Ahmed, president of the Islamic Society of Northeastern, which is part of the CSO, said she also feels the representation of the BRC isn’t an accurate representation of Northeastern’s student body.
Of the 12 voting members of the BRC, five individuals belong to a fraternity or sorority, and a sixth member is pledging. Jennifer Hardy, BRC chair and a non-voting member, is the vice president of programming for the Delta Zeta sorority.
The BRC and SGA have reached out to student groups who have expressed their concerns, Hardy said.
“[We are trying to] change the program request process to make it as fair and accomodating to student groups,” Hardy said. “There are definitely flaws.”
Arroyo said many of the programs that smaller groups tend to sponsor do not need six weeks to plan. He said this puts them at a disadvantage because funding works on a first come first serve basis.
Nineteen of the 23 Greek-sponsored events that were given partial funding from the BRC were brought before the BRC in July and August, even though they weren’t scheduled for well into the fall semester. One of the groups, the Panhellenic Council, presented to the BRC on July 30 for the Greek Follies event, which will take place on Oct. 28.
On Aug. 27, the Kappa Sigma fraternity requested $10,400 for a concert to be held Nov. 15 and was given $10,050. On the other hand, on Oct. 1, the Haitian Student Unity requested $20,578 for the Sickle Cell Fashion Show scheduled for Nov. 22. The BRC allocated $7,008 to the group.
The first come, first serve policy is fair, Hardy said, because groups who can get their requests together as soon as possible have a better shot at getting funding.
“Every student group has the opportunity,” she said.
Ahmed said the CSO wanted to make sure the BRC knows its concerns.
“I don’t have a problem with the BRC,” Ahmed said. “My main concern is to figure out what the BRC is doing to make sure they are being fair in the way they allocate money.”
Martin Lenon, treasurer of NU Barkada, which is part of the CSO, said bigger organizations have more of an advantage because more people know about the groups and their events are bigger.
“They’re more likely to get funded, just because they are able to reach more people,” he said.
The BRC needs to work on a formal way of evaluating and rating programs so the members can determine how to choose one program instead of another if both cannot be fully funded, Ranley said.
The BRC will hold a working group session Wednesday at 6 p.m. in 318 Curry Student Center to review the aspects of the committee that can change with the policies and procedures.
“If anyone has issues or ideas to make the process work better, we are hoping and willing to hear them,” Hardy said.
– News staff Kate Augusto
contributed to this report.
