Many clubs under the Student Governing Board will maintain budgets similar to last year’s, despite concerns that SGB’s budget had been cut by the Funding at Columbia University committee, known as F@CU, in August. Members of the InterGreek Council said they have planned additional programming after receiving a significant funding increase from F@CU.
SGB initially thought its 2011-2012 allocation would be $6,000 less than the budget from last year, prompting a minor panic from within the board’s ranks. However, it recently learned that it will only have to endure minor budgetary cuts, due to a 3 percent hike in student life fees.
“In reality, SGB’s budget is less than $200 different from its previous year’s budget and still substantially higher over the budget two years ago,” Aki Terasaki, CC ’12, F@CU member, and CCSC president, said.
F@CU members, drawn from incoming and outgoing student councils, meet at the end of spring semester to evaluate budget request packets from Columbia’s governing boards, which distribute funds to clubs. F@CU then issues budgets for each board from a collective pot of nearly a million dollars drawn from undergraduate student life fees.
Barry Weinberg, CC ’12 and SGB chair, said the board had planned to minimize the effect on individual clubs’ budgets by “not touching the allocated funds as much as possible.” To preserve their budgets, he said he pulled funds from the regular pool of money SGB uses to co-sponsor campus events.
Jordana Kaminetsky, BC ’12 and president of the Columbia/Barnard Hillel, said she’s not worried about the cuts to co-sponsorship funds.
“I don’t think this will affect our fundraising that much,” Kaminetsky said. “We’ll either fundraise a little extra or ask F@CU for funds.”
One of the few SGB clubs to receive less money this year is the Columbia Queer Alliance—its budget was cut by $1,200. CQA’s budget has increased each year between 5-10 percent, so the small cut was a set back for the group, which hosts a widely-attended LGBT-themed dance party called “First Fridays” every month.
“We have to be smarter with our money, smarter with what we want to do,” Matt Martinez, CC ’13 and president of CQA said. “It’ll slightly affect the group, but they also said that this year’s budget cut is temporary and won’t affect our allocation for next year.”
The InterGreek Council’s budget rose from $9,680 last year to $23,112.83 for 2011-2012. The board, which represents fraternities, sororities, and multicultural Greek organizations, received a dramatic funding increase due to Barnard’s student government’s agreement to recognize sororities last spring, fiscal responsibility, and a steady rise in membership over the years, said Narayan Subramanian, SEAS ’13, a member of F@CU and outgoing vice president of Engineering Student Council intergroup.
The IGC allocates funds to three other councils, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the Multicultural Greek Council, which in turn organizes co-sponsorships with their affiliated fraternity and sorority chapters.
The higher budget will generate development for boards like the InterFraternity Council, whose co-sponsorships enable programming of conferences, cultural shows, and dances with humanitarian or political components, Bruno Esquen, CC ’12 and IFC vice president of finance, said. This year, more expansive programming for Greek life included a barbecue to benefit UNICEF last Friday, which was run by Sigma Phi Epsilon and Lambda Phi Epsilon.
“With the IFC programming, we aim to do events that foster unity among Greek member organizations and to work with other campus organizations in the Columbia community,” Esquen said.
An earlier version of this article quotes Matt Martinez on a $20 budget cut for CQA. The cut was $1,200. Spectator regrets the error.
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