By Steve Babcock

An unusually large percentage of student groups could find themselves without access to funding from Student Activity Fee come Oct. 8.

As of Friday, the number of student groups eligible to receive funding for programming from the BRC, who mandates the allocation of SAF funds, was 28 out of 152 according to Chairman Michael Benson. That number, he said, would only increase by approximately five over the next few weeks.

While many groups still have to reregister with the Student Activities Office, Benson said that 52 percent of the groups that registered on time would be eligible for funding.

Those groups that have registered are still being barred from funding because they have failed to attend the newly-instated mandatory treasurers’ workshops that explain to each organization what they can and cannot spend money on, and what the changing BRC regulations for expenditure are under the increased Student Activities Fee.

“The BRC has developed a horrible reputation among students,” Benson said. “We want to show groups how to spend the Student Activities Fee in a responsible way. This is the first year we’ve made [the treasurers’ workshops] mandatory.”

By attending a treasurers’ workshop, a group has effectively completed registration with the BRC. They are then eligible to place requests for program funding from the Student Activities Fee.

Benson pointed to university communication factors for the reason why student groups were not attending the workshops.

“The university has revised its methods of university-to-student-group communication,” he said. “If there was still a student directory on myNEU, that could allow the BRC to facilitate communication between those they serve.”

The final workshop was supposed to be last week. But, as a result of the amount of groups still ineligible for funding, Benson has set up another workshop for Oct. 8 during activities period.

Todd Shaver, the director of Student Activities, said he was still optimistic that groups would attend.

“Once everything quiets down, a lot of groups will register and attend the last treasurer’s workshop,” Shaver said. “Far more groups have attended the treasurer’s workshop and understand the process than ever before, and many who have not don’t want money for programming.”

One registered group that has not attended a mandatory session is the United Nations Association, which has recently become eligible to receive most of its funding from the SAF. UNA Vice President for Administration Elizabeth Salib said that a member of the group’s executive board would definitely attend the Oct. 8 session, so as to not lose the progress they have made.

“We’ve been working to receive funding from the BRC since we’re mainly an academic group, and now we have,” Salib said. “So [attending the meeting] will be taken care of.”

Some other groups currently registered but ineligible for funding include the Females’ Council of Excellence and Leadership (Xcel), the math club and the Panhellenic Council — all of which, like UNA, use BRC money for programming.

Several students also said the student groups have a responsibility to attend the sessions.

“Student life here is so small compared to other universities,” said senior marketing and finance major Rebecca Blonder. “If [the workshops] are teaching them a lesson, then I definitely think it’s fair that they should go.”

Sara Reardon, a senior marketing major, said there was a need for better supervision of the funds when asked if the remaining student groups should attend the session.

“If it’s our tuition money that’s involved [in their funding], then hell yes [they should attend],” she said.

If a low number of groups end up being registered, Benson said there would not be a disproportionate amount of money going to a group that normally wouldn’t receive it. Because groups submit requests to the BRC for each individual program, Benson said there would be simply more money available for programming.

The rest, he said, will roll over into the next semester.

Due to the increased amount of resources (the SAF was raised by the students to $100 a year last year), Benson said that the BRC will have more to spend, rather than save.

“In an ideal world, I’m going to spend every [BRC] cent I have for student programming,” he said.

James Dennis, a computer science major, said SAF funds should be directed away from student groups that only use money for their own benefit.

“I’d prefer to see everyone at Northeastern benefit from a group’s activities,” Dennis said.

According to Benson, the BRC rarely rejects funding to any group.