Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) College Council (CC) met on February 9 to hear funding appeals from three RSOs—Occam’s Razor, the University of Chicago Space Program (UCSP), and the Ballroom and Latin Dance Association (BLDA).
CC representatives also raised concerns during the meeting about USG running out of funding for the remainder of the year but did not reach a conclusion on how to address the issue.
As of February 9, the Student Government Funding Committee (SGFC) had $69,000 remaining for the year, with $4,000 to cover the remainder of winter quarter funding requests, according to totals written down at the beginning of the meeting.
Much of the meeting revolved around a discussion of how and when to apply SGFC’s fundraising requirements and whether CC and SGFC should more strictly apply funding guidelines to limit expenditures for the remainder of the year.
Occam’s Razor asked CC to reconsider SGFC’s decision to deny its request for $3,495 in funding for its annual retreat, arguing that the retreat is a core component of the RSO’s ability to successfully produce three shows each quarter. The request covered the full cost of Airbnb fees, transportation, and food for a weekend-long trip. According to Occam’s Razor’s appeal, they also did not receive funding for the trip during annual allocations.
SGFC had previously denied Occam’s Razor’s request because the retreat is not open to the general student population as required by SGFC’s funding principles. During its appeal, Occam’s Razor confirmed that the retreat was exclusively for members of the RSO.
Some CC representatives expressed concern that a strict application of the public event requirement would reward RSOs whose events are technically open to the public but, in practice, reserved for members. Other representatives argued that CC must take RSOs at their word, and that this is the reason SGFC conducts audits and imposes the same requirements on all RSOs that receive funding.
CC ultimately denied Occam’s Razor’s appeal and did not fund the trip.
UCSP appealed SGFC’s rejection of a $300 request to cover the cost of food at an “engineering work session,” citing a misstatement made during the RSO’s initial request. SGFC had denied UCSP’s request for funding on the grounds that it does not fund food costs for RSOs’ general body meetings. UCSP said it had incorrectly described the work session a general body meeting in its initial request because of a recent change in leadership and noted that it has received funding for food in the past.
After deliberation, CC approved UCSP’s request in full.
BLDA appealed SGFC’s denial of $661 in funding to attend a dance competition, arguing that it was unable to find the lower-cost options for transportation and ticket prices that SGFC had cited and that SGFC was incorrect in stating that the RSO already had enough to cover the full cost of the event.
BLDA also noted that, as it was only requesting 36 percent coverage of travel costs from SGFC, the discrepancy should not prevent it from receiving funds. SGFC cost guidelines state that it generally will not cover more than 50 percent of competition-related travel costs.
During deliberation, a representative from SGFC maintained that BLDA would not need additional funding if it used lower-cost travel options. SGFC and BLDA representatives continued to disagree over whether these options were available, with each providing different costs that they had identified.
CC representatives ultimately decided to recalculate the possible funding allocation based on BLDA’s request but disagreed on where to apply a 10 percentage point penalty for not engaging in external fundraising.
Per SGFC’s cost guide, RSOs are expected to raise at least 10 percent of funds themselves for requests exceeding $2,500 but less than $5,000. However, the guidelines do not specify whether the 10 percent requirement is imposed on the initial amount requested or the amount that SGFC agrees to cover.
After four rounds of voting, CC decided to allocate $369.90 to BLDA because, as Class of 2029 Representative Gavin Wynn put it, CC should “make a decision that allows [BLDA] to go on the trip instead of one that penalizes [the RSO] for our uncertainty in our math.”
College Council holds weekly public meetings in Stuart Hall 104 on Mondays at 7 p.m.
