School clubs protest insifficient funding

Nursing, Engineering and Wharton students are waging a silent battle against what they deem unequal representation in the Student Activities Council budget. Each school created a petition, circulated in classes and on Locust Walk, designed to outline its criticisms of SAC policies and suggest solutions to current problems. The clubs and organizations in the Wharton School received approximately .5 percent of the SAC budget this year. That budget, allocated to about 150 recognized University organizations and activities, reached almost $570,000. The School of Nursing was allocated .05 percent. Organizations in the School of Engineering and Applied Science received two percent. "We just want an equitable share of the funding," said Christian Coli, a member of the executive roundtable of the Wharton Undergraduate Student Association. "We've defined 'equitable' as a share representative of the educational, social and charitable contributions to the University community made by Wharton organizations," the Wharton sophomore added. Of the 38 Wharton clubs, each receives less than $100 apiece, Coli said. "This is a disproportionately small amount," he added. "The major problem is that [the organizations] are not getting the money they need and the money they desire." Coli said the Wharton Undergraduate Student Associations main objective is to "assist Wharton clubs in anyway possible." He said because SAC gives Wharton groups so little, the school has been forced to "divert some money to activities from educational money." Grace Esteban, chair of SAC's Steering Committee, believes department and school funding is a necessary part of academic-related activities. "The Finance Committee does feel that academic departments should fund their groups," she said. "The few events that are open to all students are the groups that we fund." "Other groups, such as the Amorphous Jugglers, can't ask for money from the Amorphous Juggling Department," Esteban explained. "The money?should be given to organizations that are meant for every person, regardless of school." Coli disagreed. "SAC is distanced," he said. "[Wharton USA] has contact day to day with the Wharton clubs. We're better prepared to deal with their needs." Nursing junior Jeannett Stankiewicz said only one organization in the Nursing School, the Nursing Student Forum, is budgeted. "We can't get funding for things we need to get funded," said Stankiewicz, the Forum's president. "[And] applying for budget and allocations is time consuming and frustrating." Esteban explained that she understands the schools' problems, adding that SAC is continually working to resolve them. "I do agree that there are forms to fill out," she said. "There is a process. But from the time that I've been on SAC, there have been efforts." But Stankiewicz and other nursing students contend that SAC's efforts are not adequate. For example, Stankiewicz said SAC denied funding for "Teen Mom Tutoring," a program which provides University tutors for teenage mothers in the local community. In response to this and other concerns, the Forum wrote a petition to voice its claims. "Basically, SAC is really accountable to nobody," she said. "We all paid a student activities fee. The undergraduate Nursing students are not getting what they deserve. "One of our goals is community outreach," Stankiewicz added. "It's hard to facilitate that with our resources." The petition in the School of Nursing was also circulated last week. "As far as the petition, SAC can definitely take it on and consider the problems," Esteban said. Engineering junior In-Yup Park argued that academic groups in the Engineering School are "getting shafted." Park, the president of the Engineering Student Activities Council and the Academic Societies of Engineers, added that "SAC is here to serve the student organizations, not to give us a hard time." He said he gave SAC suggestions last semester in order to help business run more smoothly. But, Park claims he was flatly denied. He said that while no engineers are currently on SAC steering committees, "that doesn't give them the right to be so insensitive to our groups." The lack of funding to Engineering activities, he said, has forced the school to contribute money to its organizations, which "should be spent on academics, computers and technology." "Our organizations have no formal stability," he said. "We can't plan events we want to plan. [SAC] sometimes gives us two days notice [about funding]." Staff Writer Randi Feigenbaum contributed to this story.