In response to several large funding requests and alleged policy violations, the Brandeis Allocations Board has decided to limit the allocated budgets of several secured clubs on campus.
According to Brandeis student and A-Board representative Alex Mitchell ’17, “More people [have] asked for more money than ever before, and we’ve had less money than we’ve had in previous years.”
Mitchell has been keeping track of recent expenditures by clubs such as WBRS, the Brandeis radio station. According to Mitchell, WBRS’ budget request included funding for an all expense paid trip to the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX, for the General Manager and vice president of the club.
According to Mitchell, this funding would have paid for the air-fare, price of entry, hotel cost and dining fee for the General Manager and vice president exclusively.
“Most of WBRS’ requests were down right absurd,” said Mitchell. “This is a clear violation of A-board policy, and thus they were not funded.”
Mitchell continued to stress that this is not new behavior for the club. “T-Shirts are forbidden by A-Board policy, but WBRS has given out T-shirts for years.”
The Brandeis Hoot contacted current WBRS General Manager Harris Cohen ’16 for comment, but Cohen declined to discuss the matter.
SUMS (Student Union Management System) documents that WBRS requested $71,000 in addition to a separate $130,000 requested for Springfest. WBRS received 56% of the $71,000 and 87% of the $130,000 Springfest request.
In addition to violations of policy, A-board has decided to cut back on secured clubs with funding that is immense in proportion to non-secure and chartered clubs.
“Student Events’ request alone was more than every other non-secured club combined,” said Mitchell.
The SUMS website documents Student Events’ $300,000 request as well, reporting a 53% allocation.
“There are over 220 clubs at Brandeis we have to fund, and that number seems to only go up every year,” Mitchell said. “Especially given that this is a tight year for the budget, we felt it might be better to target larger clubs than pick on the smaller ones.”
Until Sept. 16, the Allocations Board will be accepting appeal submissions for secured clubs that feel they need or deserve more funding.
As of now, both Brandeis Television (BTV) and Student Events have filed for appeal. Due to a clerical error, BTV received zero percent of their requested allocation, but A-board approved their appeal, and BTV was budgeted for the fall semester.
