A year after the FUSA Board of Governors (BOG) was implemented, students involved with clubs, members of FUSA and BOG itself feels that BOG improved greatly.
BOG was the result of a complete redesign of the Council of Student Organizations (COSO), which provided funding for clubs. Furthermore, BOG not only provides funding, but also aims to create a community within the clubs.
“[BOG] brings attention to clubs people were unaware of,” said Beth Ann Semeraro ’02 of the HAM Channel. “They can get more members and sponsor their own events.”
“[Our club] was able to get more money to have two campus-wide events which were huge successes,” said Lisa Whitman ’02, president of the Ballroom Dance Club.
“This was a great learning experience and it can only improve,” said Julia Lundy ’04, one of two special interest governors for the 2001-02 board.
FUSA President-elect Karen Donoghue said that “it’s 100 percent better because the process has changed and has gotten more clubs involved.
One of the major changes from COSO to BOG was the way funds are allocated. Previously, clubs went to COSO at the beginning of the year with a budget proposal and were allocated money for the entire year. According to John Paul Marini ’02, co-chairman of BOG, “out of 100 percent of the [$22,000] allocated by COSO, only 40 percent was used.”
This year’s BOG allocated $25,000, and Marini said “100 percent was used.” This caused clubs to ask for only what was necessary, and receive what they would need at that time.
“We were able to satisfy as many as possible,” said Vin Farisello, The Board’s chairman.
With the entire budget being spent by clubs by April 1 this year, current BOG leaders, along with the newly elected, are interested in what FUSA has in store for budgeting money next year.
Currently, BOG gets $8.50 per student from FUSA for their organization. Joseph Piagentini, FUSA president, said that the budget increase was solely due to an increase in students on campus and not due to an increase in how much money per student they were being allocated.
Piagentini said that he felt that clubs working with FUSA on programming and sharing the costs, along with clubs getting money from other organizations such as FACE, which can also provide funding, would be enough.
However, Marini said that “ultimately, we need a minimum of $40,000.” Assuming that FUSA offers its $500 in programming per weekend night to a club for an event, it would require 30 partnership events to equal that sum. And even with a budget increase, Conway said that the governors will not make any guarantees that funding will be available or approved. “The only guarantee we can make is we’ll do the best we can.”
While Donoghue said that she believes the partnerships are a good way to increase the money accessible to clubs, she was not against an increase. “Nothing is set in stone, but we’re currently discussing the budget this week and next week. We decided to meet with Vin, JP and Caroline,” she said. “Once we discuss that, we will negotiate the correct increase.”
Conway and Donoghue both agree that much of the future of BOG relies on the clubs and their activity, because more people being involved means that more people will go.
Donoghue said that “Board of Governors doesn’t cater to one person’s interests, it caters to everyone. Therefore, by having more money, more people are going to be involved, and that’s the ultimate goal of FUSA.”
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