UA funds largely unused by IFC

The fund was created last year to pay for alcohol-free activities. With the school year half over, the InterFraternity Council has used $11,500 of the $30,000 placed in a discretionary fund for joint IFC-Undergraduate Assembly activities to pay for just two events. Almost all of the money, which was set aside by the UA to co-sponsor non-alcoholic programming, was used for parts of October's widely criticized Greek Week. UA Chairperson Bill Conway said he didn't approve of the way the fraternities have used the UA-allocated money this semester. "I was upset that Greek Week wasn't a success," the Wharton junior said, adding that "the funds for Greek Week could have been used better." Besides the $10,000 Greek Week in October, the IFC has held just one other event with the money -- spending $1,500 for a three-on-three basketball tournament last month. Outgoing IFC President Josh Belinfante said he originally planned to hold several block parties and barbeques with the $30,000, but fraternity members have been too busy with other activities to plan them. "Greek Week took a lot more organizing time than we thought," the College senior explained. He added that the "houses were very busy with fall showcasing." Greek Week took over six months to plan. Originally intended as a week-long series of events for the entire campus, Greek Week was to include a party at Dave & Buster's entertainment complex, a movie screening on College Green, a community service carnival and an "All-Greek" mixer. The UA funds only covered non-alcoholic events such as the movie night and the carnival. But rain forced the movie indoors, the carnival was sparsely attended and the Division of Public Safety cancelled the mixer -- which was not funded by the UA -- because of security concerns and miscommunications between the Greeks and police. Conway explained that although the $30,000 was set aside for a "Greek Fund," the UA must still essentially approve every expenditure that uses money from the fund. Because the UA constitution prohibits them from setting aside money for non-student government organizations, the fund serves as a money source for events co-sponsored by the IFC and UA. Additionally, Conway stressed the word "discretionary," saying that though the money is set aside for the Greeks it can still be used for other activities. "We can give this money to any student group at our own discretion to fund anyone we choose," he explained. But he noted that the IFC has priority for the money. Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski said the students need to work harder to develop ideas and use the funding as a resource. "Penn students are very bright and creative people," he noted, explaining that they need to apply this creativity when creating non-alcoholic programs. Belinfante said that the IFC plans to request money next semester to fund workshops by Students Against Acquaintance Rape, Drug and Alcohol Resource Team and Training for Intervention Procedures. Next semester the IFC will also plan a Greek Weekend, which will include a community service event and a barbeque, incoming IFC President Mark Metzl said. The $30,000 was originally allocated by the UA last spring in a move that was hotly contested by student group leaders --Ewho unsuccessfully tried to pass a referendum to recover the funds -- because the allocation effectively lessened the budget of the Student Activities Council. SAC doles out money to 150 campus student groups. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Erin Johnson contributed to this article.

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