By Mike Napolitano

Changes by the Budget Review Committee (BRC) to alter the way funds are allocated to student groups and streamline event proposals have begun, BRC and Student Government Association (SGA) administrators said.

The changes, stemming from a Nov. 3 meeting between the BRC and about 50 students from various student groups, include the addition of liaison jobs for preexisting BRC members, a scheduling change that allows the BRC, which operates under SGA, to review every proposed event for each month at once and a mandatory informational workshop for all student groups requesting funding for an event, BRC Chair Jennifer Hardy said.

“A lot of the things we changed are to help make things easier on both sides,” Hardy said.

Liaisons, she said, were implemented to increase communication between the BRC and student groups, something many groups said had been lacking.

“Each member has about 10 student groups they are responsible for,” she said. “If a group has a question, they can contact that person.”

Rob Ranley, SGA president, said while it is still early, liaisons seem to be working.

“It’s only been about two weeks, but a lot of what they are doing is reaching groups, making sure they know deadlines, [and] new policies,” he said. “They are just starting to work with the groups, making sure all the groups know what’s going on with the BRC.”

Student groups seemed pleased with the idea of liaisons as well. The Northeastern University South Asian Student Organization (UTSAV) was one of the first two groups who presented an event to the BRC since the addition.

“We got funding for our semi-formal, but because it happened so fast there wasn’t enough time to speak to the liaison,” said Amrita Chabria, co-president of UTSAV. “But I think the liaison idea is a great idea.”

Sushruta Kunnenkeri, co-president of UTSAV, said liaisons are a good idea as long as they do their jobs.

Kunnenkeri said he had been contacted by his liason by e-mail once, offering help with preparing proposals.

“I think it’s a good step,” he said. “Right now I think it’s too early to kind of see if it’s good or bad.”

Scheduling changes, Hardy said, would make it easier to allocate funds more efficiently and fairly. Groups will now present according to how much money they request, broken into small, medium and large groups. Events costing less than $5,000 will be classified as small events, while funding for large events will be reserved those like Springfest. The BRC will also be able to review all the proposals for each month at once and about seven to nine weeks in advance.

“It’s not first come first serve anymore,” Hardy said. “Before we only saw proposals in the beginning [of the month], and the events presented last were difficult to fund.”

Ranley said being able to see all of the proposals at once and splitting them up according to funding size will help make the process more fair.

“The idea is that if you have a small and a medium program, they’re not competing for the same amount of money, so it makes it more fair,” he said. “It also lets us look at all programs at the same time [and] within the context of other programs submitted. Before we would have to try to anticipate what’s coming the next week.”

Mandatory workshops will go over the details of BRC program requests, policies and tips on how to present an event, Hardy said. Each group is required to attend one before making a request, and Hardy said many have already attended.

“We go over all the details of the program, some of the important manual policies, what makes a good program request, what you should talk about when you present,” she said.

Hardy said optional workshops have also been available to student groups to learn and collaborate with each other.

“We also had our first review session,” she said. “Anyone thinking of requesting a program for February came last night. … Students got to sit down and hear what other groups are planning. … BRC members were there as well. [Students] could ask any questions about paperwork or presentation then.”

Hardy said the BRC would look at how these changes have affected the presentation process when they review their policies at the end of the year. Ranley said he does not expect any more changes this year.

“At the end of every year we review the manual,” he said. “Right now we’re working with the changes that we have and we’ll see how they pan out for the semester. We’ll look at new policies for next year.”