This year, student groups will request almost $100,000 more in funding than the College will allocate.
For the $572,647 in proposals from student groups, Dartmouth has only $475,000, which comes from student fees. This sum is dwarfed by Harvard University's $1.2 million student activity budget, which is itself supplemented by $126,500 in student-generated funding.
With the Student Assembly's recent return of $5,000 in funding and the College's allocation of 16 iMac computers for BlitzMail terminals, some student groups are still questioning a College funding system which has provoked criticism in the past.
The giving process
Each term, students pay a $40 student activities fee, which goes directly to the 15-member Undergraduate Finance Committee, chaired by the Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia.
The UFC includes representatives from 10 organizations that receive its funding: the Programming Board, Council of Student Organizations, Class Councils, the Student Assembly, Office of Residential Life, Student Life, the Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council, the Hopkins Center, the Athletic Department and the Collis Governing Board. Five at-large members, unaffiliated with the above organizations, also sit on the committee.
According to the Undergraduate Finance Committee's guidelines, the fee is "dispersed to student-initiated, student run, campus-wide on-going programs," as well as athletic and cultural events for undergraduates.
Every fall, the UFC divides up the over $400,000 from the student activities fee among the 10 organizations based on the funding proposals they submit. Sateia then approves the decision.
James Gallo '99, who represents COSO on the UFC, said when considering proposals, "the UFC keeps in mind how the previous year's allocation was spent by a group. It also thinks about how the money will best serve the student body."
Associated Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy said, "the process is one where students decide where student money should go."
"You can apply for as much money as you want, but you need to justify that amount," Kennedy said. "Significantly more money is requested than is available."
"A finite amount of money exists, and is allocated to different competing student groups that have increased in number over time," Sateia said.
According to Sateia, the College's Audit and Advisory Services reviewed the funding process a year ago and concluded it is indeed a fair one and that the UFC worked hard to make an informed decision.
Sateia said, however, it might be time to reexamine the process.
"It is time to look at the sources of support for funding student groups and ask ourselves whether the College is satisfied with the levels of support and then address the inequities," Sateia said.
All one pot
The funding crisis has evolved slowly.
Student Assembly Vice President Case Dorkey '99 said, "times change and so does the campus. With more groups and an increasing breadth of activities, things have become more expensive."
"New programs and activities are being added while old ones are kept running," Sateia said. "This creates a greater demand on limited funds."
The current $40 student activity fee will be incrementally raised in proportion to escalating tuition costs, but Dorkey said that will not solve the problem.
"Money from the student activities fee is not adequate to fund organizations, but that fee can't keep being raised," Dorkey said.
"Students groups are fighting for the same pot of money," he said. "Co-sponsoring doesn't address the problem either because all groups get money from the UFC."
In the winter of 1997, funding was so scarce, that the editors of five publications, including the Beacon, formally complained in a letter to Linda Kennedy and the Assembly president.
Current Beacon President Adam Mirick '99, said the situation "has improved considerably over two years ago, but the process isn't perfect. The Beacon has not applied for funding in a year-and-a-half; we instead are funded by alumns and ads."
The Jack-O-Lantern's co-editor in chief, Dan Powell '00, said "there isn't a student group out there that gets the money they need."
"It boils down to who deserves the money more," Powell said. "What happens is no one gets nearly as much as they asked for. It's not the fault of COSO. For all intents and purposes, they do a very good job, but what boils down to a severe lack of funding ... The basic problem is the UFC isn't giving enough money to student activities. It's really a shame," Powell said.
Powell said with Dartmouth's endowment as large as it is, an extra $100,000 for student activities is not too much to ask.
A bigger pot?
Dorkey said the Assembly wants the activities fee to be supplemented rather than raised. He said alternative sources of funding could be soft drink pouring rights money or alumni giving. Dorkey said the College could provide an alternative to donating money for financial aid by offering a category for donations to student life.
The Assembly has initiated both immediate and long-term plans to address the problem.
Last month, the Assembly returned $5,000 of its $30,000 budget to COSO in hopes of relieving the strain. In addition, the Assembly passed a resolution asking the College to contribute $20,000 to the UFC to halt perpetuating funding failures.
"We want the College to join us, so that together we can get the ball rolling in addressing this issue," Dorkey said.
The Assembly also created a task force to research the funds needed to supplement the activities fee, as well as explore ideas of possible sources for such funds.
"Publications are underfunded, especially in relation to other schools," Dorkey said.
According to Powell, all the COSO publications, including the Jack-O, The Stonefence Review, The Beacon, Uncommon Threads, Cahiers du Dartma and Woodsmoke, have to share two small offices and one computer. The Sports Weekly uses the same office but has its own computer.
"[The situation] is absurd considering every single [public] Blitz computer was replaced with an iMac," Powell said. "We would kill for two more computers in the publications room."
"If the school can't give us space and equipment, at least they could give us the money to print," he said.
"I've been to other colleges -- Stanford and Emory -- and visited the humor magazine there. Their facilities, not just for magazines, but for publications in general, are vastly superior. They have more than adequate funding."
Powell said printing 2,500 copies of the Jack-O costs $4,000, but COSO gives the group $1,250 a term. The Jack-O then needs to raise $2,000 more a term through T-shirt sales, donations and advertisements, he said.
Karen Hung, treasurer of the Dartmouth Asian Organization, said she has been "really happy" with COSO's work.
But, she said, "it's not like they just give us money. You'll definitely get lower than what you ask for." Hung said in those cases, groups can seek funding elsewhere, such as the Dean of the College's office and residence hall clusters. But she said "these sources of funding should be more obvious."
Elsewhere
Cornell University employs a similar funding system.
Vice President of Finance Cyrus Patel '99 said Cornell's funding process starts every other year, when the obligatory student activity fee is determined. The $1.2 million netted in fees is channeled into the Student Assembly, which funds groups such as the Emergency Medical Service, The Concert Commission and the Student Activity Fee Commission.
The SAFC is an official committee of the Student Assembly comprised of Cornell students. Similar to Dartmouth's COSO, this group, in turn, allocates funds to Cornell students groups.
According to Patel, groups then submit a budget request to the SAFC. If a group is unhappy with the results, they can appeal to the SAFC on the basis of two reasons, new information or discrimination. The SAFC meets again with the group and examines their budget and grounds for appeal.
Patel said, "every member of the commission votes on whether the appeal should be looked at. If the group is still discontent with the SAFC after the appeals process, they can then appeal to myself, the vice president of finance and the appropriations committee of the Student Assembly."
At Dartmouth, meanwhile, appealing is rare. "We haven't had it in recent years because the committee spends a lot of time gathering information and deliberating and making as fair a decision as it can," Sateia said.
Harvard University bases funding on a slightly different system that includes several sources. According to articles in The Crimson, the University itself donates $1.2 million in funds towards the student council and other organizations.
An activity fee also exits, but is an optional $20 per year that nets about $126,500.
