In the past few weeks, there has been a whisper spreading around campus regarding organizations suffering budget cuts. Unfortunately, that whisper is not just a rumor, there really are budget cuts being made. The victims of these cuts include the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (OSIL), and, by extension, student organizations including All Campus Events (ACE), Residence Hall Association (RHA), WPRK, R-TV, The Tomokan and The Sandspur.
So, why did those organizations lose their money? “From what I understand, the college has some retention issues so they are cutting budgets across campus and in different organizations,” said Pinehurst Cottage RHA representative Christopher McCauley ’11. Lowerthan- expected enrollment left the school with fewer-than-expected dollars. OSIL specifically has been asked to cut $100,000 from the money they provide to student organizations.
One organization that is struggling right now is RHA; according to Sutton representative Zac Chenaille ’11, “Next year, RHA will have no budget whatsoever, which will hamper its ability to offer financial assistance to the residence halls as far as programming, hall improvements and community building events go.” The individual halls still have money to use for those things, but they are much less significant. Despite this, McCauley remained positive about the future of RHA. “I think there is a good amount of students that are really planning on keeping it going. We don’t exactly know how RHA is going to be looking next year… it’ll be more in the hands of the students than in the school.”
Another organization that is potentially facing serious budget cuts is The Sandspur. According to Editor-in-Chief Nick Zazulia ’11, “The Sandspur is being looked at heavily and could see a significant reduction in funding, though it is not yet decided what the figure will be.”
As McCauley did for RHA, Zazulia maintained a forwardlooking view on behalf of the newspaper, saying that “Diffi cult though budget cuts are, we understand why they are sometimes necessary. Our main goal at this point in time is to reallocate our own funds to be as efficient as possible with our spending and to work with the relevant administration to ensure that it is understood what exactly the impact of funding cuts will be on The Sandspur, so they can make an informed and appropriate decision.”
According to Cody Lloyd, a graduate assistant in OSIL, “Our main goal is to reduce the budget without impacting programing for students, this includes all student organizations. While the fi nal cuts have not been determined for OSIL it is again the goal to reduce spending without eff ecting areas that encompass student involvement.” We will have to see what organizations receive budget cuts once everything has been fi nalized.
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