After two rounds in the Student Government Association budget allocations process, a bake sale and some digging around in personal coffers, Loyola’s chapter of the Music Therapy Association is on its way to Louisville, Ky.
Ten members of the Loyola chapter will head to Kentucky in mid-November for the American Music Therapy Association conference. These students, who study ways to use music in fields like psychiatrics, rehabilitation and geriatrics, will meet internship directors from across the country, get to know professionals and find out what’s going on in the field, said Rose Fienman, music therapy junior. Fienman said the four-day trip, starting Nov. 15, will be a good experience because the music therapy program requires that students complete an internship, usually for six months, before they can graduate.
According to the American Music Therapy Association’s Web site, “This conference will connect (them) to dedicated professionals, as well as provide opportunities to learn more about music therapy and its many applications through conference sessions, specialized courses, and many other conference activities.
“A new conference feature, ‘Music Therapy Innovators Series,’ will bring together panels of influential music therapists who will focus on innovative music therapy research with specific populations and topics.”
Although the bulk of the cost for the conference will come out of the travelers’ pockets, SGA did pitch in to a degree.
“In the first round (of budget allocations) they decided they weren’t able to fund any travel or hotel,” Fienman said.
“In the second round, we applied for three registration fees,” she said. SGA awarded them the full amount: $630.
SGA didn’t extend its funding to hotel or travel costs because of new rules, called “U rules,” that SGA put in place this year to address budget cuts.
“The ‘U rules’ are in place so that the SGA allocations committee can get under budget,” said Jonathan Rowan, SGA director of finance and finance sophomore.
The “U rules” state that SGA cannot give money for nonessential food, conference travel or club sports travel. Also, SGA can only allot enough registration money for 1/10 of any student organization.
“Other ways of doing cost cutting tend to favor larger organizations,” said SGA president Elliot Sanchez, philosophy senior. “These rules help it to be more equal. Music therapy is a good example of these rules working in favor of an organization.”
Between SGA’s allocation and a bake sale that brought in roughly another $300, the music therapy chapter earned about $900 toward the trip. That still leaves a hefty price tag for the individual students. With hotel and travel not covered by SGA (and six of the students flying), each member is paying about $400 out of pocket.
Fienman doesn’t want to downplay their $900 jump start, however. “It’s always better to have some fund raising,” she said. “People are going to go anyway. It’s a matter of making it affordable for as many people as possible.”
Lee Hudson can be reached at
