Service sororities and fraternities on average received more than three-quarters of their requested Student Government Association funding, while the social sororities and fraternities averaged only 10 percent of their request according to SGA’s final budget. SGA passed its final allocations budget last Tuesday, awarding slightly more than half of the money requested by student groups.
The College Republicans got all of the $1,075 they sought, while Student Democrats received none of the $48 they requested. Student unions, such as Black Student Union, La Gente, Loyola Asian Student Organization, and Loyola University Sociology Student Organization were awarded 77 percent of the $19,300 requested.
The total budget came to $54,604.87, which is 53 percent of the $102,729.30 sought by the organizations.Out of the 67 groups that applied for funds, eight received everything applied for and 16 were awarded nothing.Most groups got less than half of the money applied for.
The BSU and International Student Association received the most money at $7,800 and $4,692 respectively.
Erika Gordon, financial senior and head of the budget committee, said that the appropriations committee did well and campus organizations seem to approve of the budget.
“All the organizations that followed the procedure were happy with what they got,” Gordon said.
Fernando Bautista, a political science senior and member of the budget committee, agreed.
“I’ve had several groups come up to me thanking me, but none of my constituents have complained about the process,” Bautista said.
Gordon explained that the budget committee has strict guidelines regarding what can and cannot be funded, and most of the groups that did not receive funds had not followed the correct application procedure.
Communications senior Martina Mills, SGA president, said the budget committee does not play favorites when allocating funds.
“We don’t say, ‘Oh, this is a good group’ or ‘That’s a bad group,'” Mills said. “We examine how everyone plans to spend the money, then try to figure out how to best distribute funds to help Loyola students.”
Panhellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council were among those denied funding. The three groups each applied for $1,128 for computers in the Greek Life Office for recruitment and general office work.
Jill Styx, assistant director of Student Activities and director of Greek Life, said the groups were disappointed by the denial but understood the process.
“That’s the breaks. A request is just that, a request, and unfortunately SGA felt that computers do not fall under the guidelines for funding,” Styx said. “I think it was legitimate, but it didn’t get funded.”
Some student groups were frustrated by the application process and said it is overly sensitive to detail.
Abby Roberts, political science junior and treasurer of the University Honors Association, was upset that the group was denied funding on what she feels was a technicality.
“We wrote ‘University Honors Program’ on the packet instead of ‘University Honors Association.’ They said they didn’t know which honors program we were,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the time for appeals is too short, lasting only one day.
“If we had a week to appeal, then everyone who was turned down would get a fair chance to appeal,” she said. “If you can only appeal from Monday afternoon to Monday late afternoon, the window of opportunity is much too small.”
According to Roberts, the Honors Association planned to use the money for trips to the symphony and art museum.
“If it weren’t for these extremely small technical differences, we could work with SGA to further academic programs on campus,” Roberts said.
But Bautista emphasized that he thinks the system works and the appeals process is adequate.
“Erika Gordon was in her office all day Monday, and groups had from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. to appeal,” Bautista said. “This is the system; it might be long and painstaking, but we think it’s fair.”
Kelly Brown can be reached at [email protected].
