College Republicans leaders said they were unhappy with Associated Student Government’s decision on Wednesday to decline requests for money for a Spring Quarter speaker.
Henry Bowles, College Republicans president, said that a “cycle of unfairness” perpetuated an inherent Catch-22 — namely, his group’s events have low attendance because they receive less money and only can afford lower-caliber speakers.
Zaid Pardesi, Student Activities Finance Board chairman, said College Republicans was still in the upper echelon of student groups, in terms of funding.
“I cannot understand why they are unable to put on programming with that much money,” Pardesi added.
Bowles, a Medill junior, said he was told when first elected that there was a difference in funds due to an ideological discrepancy in SAFB’s past, a claim Pardesi denies as “not true.”
SAFB Account Executive Mark Zoff also dismissed College Republicans’ claim
“We don’t fund on cause,” Zoff told the Senate. “We fund on merit.”
Bowles was not satisfied.
“It’s a total fallacy and SAFB has given us this line and it makes no sense,” he told The Daily.
Other groups’ reaction to Wednesday’s SAFB decisions were less contentious. Groups that teamed up with others to co-sponsor events received about 25 percent of the pool of funds.
A co-sponsorship between For Members Only, Hillel Cultural Life and Northwestern Community Development Corps received funding to bring a “big-name” speaker on social justice issues.
“NCDC has tried for at least two years to bring (one such speaker) but they didn’t receive enough funds,” said Zach Galin, ASG senator for NCDC. “The co-sponsorship was very helpful.”
Galin, the president of Hillel Cultural Life and a Weinberg sophomore, used his connection with both groups to foster the co-sponsorship.
“It’s great to see groups come together, it’s what the SAFB is putting an emphasis on and hopefully it will build further community on campus,” said Pardesi, a McCormick senior.
Pardesi said there were more co-sponsorships than usual this year and attributed it to a forum SAFB sponsored for A-status student group leaders a month ago.
Asian Pacific American Coalition did not receive $3,230 in requested funds for the publication of an Asian-American magazine.
“It’s frustrating because this is a student publication that tries to raise awareness of diversity on campus,” said Sarah Yun, Weinberg senior and president of APAC. “We have hope, we’ll try to fund-raise more.”
SAFB officials said other campus publications such as Juice and The Protest receive only about $2,100 and it would not be fair to give a first-time publication more.
Distributing funds for printers, digital cameras and computers was another controversial subject Wednesday night.
“If it’s an activity fee it should be used for activities,” said Jack Vrett, a member of the executive committee and a Communication junior. “These groups were made A-status because they could fund-raise.”
But A&O was allocated $1,000 for a computer and Alternative Student Break and McSA received money for printers.
Pardesi said groups have always been allocated money for capital improvements.
“I think it’s integral for groups to get what they need to function,” Pardesi said. “At the end of the day why some senators took issue with that is interesting.”
Most student group funding occurs during Spring Quarter but leftover money is saved for fall when groups can petition to receive more support from the SAFB pool for their events.
Reach Alexis Crawford at [email protected].
