Student organization funding system in 'crisis'

The current growth of student clubs is not sustainable, members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and administration have said in the past week. These comments come in the midst of a budget crunch caused, in part, by the recent extraordinary growth of clubs on campus.

"Every year the J [TCU Judiciary] approves more groups," former Assistant TCU Treasurer Nick Abraham said. "The number of groups being recognized is outpacing the student activity fee."

"We are headed towards a budget crisis," Abraham said.

Last year, 26 different organizations received temporary status, which allows them to advertise on campus and reserve a room on University property. Of those 26, 17 went on to apply for official recognition by the TCUJ, only two of which were denied _ the Party Club and the International Food Club.

These 15 new groups can now apply for funding from the TCU Senate. Meanwhile, the number of groups continues to grow, as 15 are already applying for temporary status from the Office of Student Activities this year.

"It's pretty incredible," Student Activities Director Jodie Neally said.

The solution to what Dean of Students Bruce Reitman calls "a huge dilemma" may not be forthcoming, though. Suggestions have been made, but each one encounters hurdles. Caps on new group funding for up to three years may be the solution, Reitman said, but that it "may only delay the problem."

This problem, Abraham said, is that the "potential for more and more clubs is infinite." Once the Judiciary has recognized a club of a certain type, the precedent is set that it must accept groups with similar formats but different purposes.

This is especially prevalent in culture groups and pre-professional groups, which make up 64 out of the nearly 170 different campus organizations. Another example is the Harry Potter Club, which is in the process of applying for recognition using the precedent of the No Homers Club.

"Once you tell yes to a couple, you have to say yes to all of them. You can't discriminate," TCUJ Chair Adam Biacchi said.

The TCU Senate ran a budget deficit last year due to a budgeting error of over $50,000. This shortfall has made the continuing addition of campus groups much more relevant this year. The issue has "more importance in light of last year's budget crunch," Abraham said.

A second issue is whether the TCUJ should recognize resource availability before approving new clubs. The TCUJ is supposed to take into account that availability because of a recently added rule, but it has been instructed to not base decisions on it. "Reitman has told us many times we are not supposed to worry about money," Biacchi said.

This concept is wrong, TCU Treasurer Ben Lee said. "I think the J needs to be able to take financial and space availability into account when recognizing groups," he said. For the TCUJ to focus on "resource availability" is not enough.

"I think that all concerned feel that the guidelines given were pretty vague, and no one is quite sure how to interpret it," Lee said.

Though there is concern about the proliferation of clubs and their effect on the TCU Senate's budget, Reitman feels there are more important worries than this budget.

The school is running out of space for student groups to meet, and not many buildings are arriving in the near future. Reitman hopes that the new music building _ which has encountered recent funding problems _ as well as the new dorm will alleviate some of these concerns.

"There's a way to deal with the money issue," but the space one is much more difficult, Reitman said. "The TCU budget is stretched so that the funding to various groups is below what should be possible." He suggested that student activity fees could be increased to help make up for the deficit.

But Lee performed a study last year to examine raising the fee but discovered that Tufts "was definitely the highest" of the schools he studied.

But, according to Lee, the growth in the student activities fee has been hugely outpaced by that of student groups and organizations. There are 43 percent more groups now than in 1993, while groups' budgets have inflated by an estimated 31.5 percent.

The student activities fee had increased 56 percent during this same time period.

The student activity fee is currently $206, after rising nine dollars last year and $67 since 1993. The increase dwarfs the 30 percent increase in tuition and room and board costs over the same time. But Reitman said that the cost of the student activity fee has to be put in perspective.

"For that amount, compared what you pay for the curriculum, it seems like a pretty good deal," he said. The current cost for tuition, room and board at Tufts College is $35, 760.

Abraham said that the best solution to the situation is to start placing more groups under umbrella organizations, much like the Leonard Carmicheal Society (LCS) and Hillel. According to Abraham, having a large group that organizes the funding for smaller sub-committees would "make it easy to coordinate and save money."

But Biacchi is not so sure that having the TCUJ create umbrella organizations would work. "From an Allocations Board perspective, it's a lot less work for them," Biacchi said. But organizations will do "whatever they can" to not be a sub-committee.

No Homers Club, Tufts Simpsons aficionados group, nearly fell under a subcommittee when it applied to the TCUJ at the same time as a cartoon club. They were given their own charter in the end, but No Homers Club President Josh Belkin thinks that method will not alleviate the funding problem.

"It reduces the amount of direct communication between the group and the Senate," Belkin said. "I don't see it saving any money... The only way to save money is to cut money."

The problem does not look to be going away anytime soon, though. "At an institution with so many talented people, we could have a club for just about everything, and unfortunately the funds available just do not allow for it," Lee said.

The solution may be to limit future groups on campus, but most don't want to see that happen. "If we set a cap on the organizations... that means that we would be stagnant," Reitman said. "On what basis can you say no to a group?