Two student groups are in the process of appealing demotions from A-status to B-status, and their appeals might be heard at the Jan. 25 Associated Student Government meeting.
Sara Ittelson, ASG’s financial vice president, declined to name the groups going on the appeals process. Student Activities Finance Board met Saturday for their annual review of student groups, demoting three groups, said Ittelson, who is also SAFB’s chairwoman.
The first recourse for groups that are demoted is to appeal SAFB. If they lose that appeal, they can appeal to the Senate.
A-status groups receive money from the Student Activities Fee, a $40 quarterly fee each student pays along with tuition. The SAFB allocates almost $1 million in SAF funds during two funding cycles in the fall and spring. The Senate either approves or amends SAFB’s allocation.
Currently, B-status groups do not receive SAF funds. But plans to create grant programs and distribute student funds to groups that don’t receive money from the SAF are in the works.
Groups can be demoted for misusing funds, failing to attract enough students to events, or simply not needing the money, Ittelson said.
Student Blood Services, a student group that organizes blood drives, dropped from an A- to a B-status group but did not appeal. President Frank Du said the group was “still not 100 percent sure” they wanted to be A-status when they applied, which he thought was a factor in the group’s demotion.
The year before, they didn’t receive any funding and they hoped to ask newer members whether they thought the paperwork required for the top status was valuable. Their events are not very expensive, he said. They were considering expanding beyond blood drives as the number of group members grew.
“If we work hard we can sustain (events) by simply fundraising ourselves,” said Du, a McCormick junior.
For groups with small programming budgets that want to avoid paperwork and bureaucracy, “it’s almost easier to find the money from other sources,” Ittelson said.
At this Wednesday’s meeting senators also will vote on five proposals they heard last week, including one to support the creation of a summer internship grant program. The program would use alumni donations to award grants to students who might otherwise have to take a job instead of an unpaid internship.
The bill’s authors also hope to work with alumni to create internship opportunities in fields where internships are rare, such as anthropology.
Other initiatives Senate will vote on include bills to improve the Frostbite Express and Escort Service, to create a Web site where students can rate Evanston apartments and to place the calendar Web site NU Link on the ASG server and put a link to it on HereAndNow.
Reach Diana Samuels at [email protected].
