FUNDING FIASCO

Next Fall quarter, three student groups will be without university funding after the student-run University Funding Board found them to be in violation of the board’s operating criteria.

Each of the three groups — American Marketing Association, Engineering Tribunal and Brothers and Sisters in Construction – received approximately $3,600 in total from the board to provide co-sponsorships to this year’s Sigma Sigma Carnival.

The Sigma Sigma honorary asked the groups to co-sponsor the event by paying for game booths and portable restrooms at the Saturday, May 15, carnival.

The violation, UFB President Sean Huff said, happened when Sigma Sigma charged carnival-goers 10 cents per ticket to play games at the booths, which were funded by student dollars.

The money UFB gives to different campus organizations comes from student life fees — part what students pay as part of their quarterly tuition bill. Because students already paid the fee that provides UFB with its money, students were being charged twice by paying for tickets, which is a violation of the board’s criteria, Huff said.

When the ticket fees were brought to the board’s attention Thursday, May 20, it voted 11-1 to suspend funding to the three groups for Fall quarter. A motion was brought before the board Thursday, May 27, to overturn sanctions. It was denied by a vote of 4-7-1.

“I can guess what happened,” Huff said. “The groups saw the Sigma Sigma proposal, signed it and didn’t think about it. [The groups] signed a binding budget proposal, which is why it’s important to know exactly where your funds are going. The board came up with a fair and appropriate punishment.”

While the punitive measures stand firm, not everyone is satisfied.

“It’s unfair in the way [the groups] are being punished,” said fourth-year finance student Ryan Pontsler, who was also the carnival chair. “The criteria hasn’t changed; it’s the interpretation of UFB’s criteria that has changed.”

Normally, student groups can appeal the decision to the student courts, but because the College of Law students who run the hearings are out for the summer, appeals cannot be heard until fall, after the funding freeze has begun.

The decision to charge for game tickets was made by the members of Sigma Sigma, Pontsler said.

Free games were advertised on the carnival’s Facebook page and, according to members of UFB, Sigma Sigma told the board it would not charge for tickets. Pontsler said he made no such statement, but only that student groups would not have to pay to use booths.

The funding board cannot take direct punitive action against Sigma Sigma because it is not a group eligible to directly receive funding, Huff said. The student groups that receive funding have to meet certain specifications, such as open membership. Sigma Sigma, as an honorary, is selective in deciding who can join the group, making them ineligible for funding. Sanctions placed on the three groups also say that they cannot fund the annual Sigma Sigma Carnival next year.

The entire 2010 carnival costs approximately $25,000, Pontsler said.