With the spring semester well underway, the United Student Government (USG) on Monday granted only two of the 32 clubs with its full request for the first funding period.

The two clubs that received their full funding were the Anime Club, who requested $315, and the Global Cultural Studies (GCS) who requested $35.

Among all of the 32 clubs, a total of $21,981 was distributed. The Honors Students Organization (HSO) received less than half of what they asked for, but still obtained the most financing with $2,780. The club plans to dish out this amount between events such as book club, meetings, storytelling and Spring Break.

Rugby Club also encountered a large cut in its budget, asking for over $5,000 and receiving $1,913.50. USG cut the funds for the clubs tournament entry fee and transportation completely, but moved the matter to the next funding period.

Asking for a club high of $6,000, the Theater Club received only $1,500 of that amount. The budget for venues was cut in half, while everything else was cut all together. Nick Moran, senior senator and psychology major explained why this number dropped so drastically.

“The reason why we cut food and drink and DJ and lighting is because the event is not until April. They still have time to ask for that money second funding period and purchase their food and get all of the information figured out,” Moran said during the meeting Monday.

The process of having two funding periods began in the fall of 2014, which is the cause of many of the budget cuts this month. This strategy gives clubs the opportunity to pinpoint more on what they really need, instead of having to approximate that amount so far in advance. USG Treasurer Thaddeus Covaleski weighed in on the progress of the change.

“So far it’s not bad, but it gets a little tough when we have so many clubs asking for so much money,” Covaleski said at the meeting Monday. 

Although it is only in its second semester, Covaleski sees both good and bad in its development.

“It’s not like our total allocated amount that we give out has changed, so it’s easier in some respects because it allows clubs to organize more and more specifically ask for amounts of money,” Covaleski said. “But it gets kind of tough where we want to make sure we have enough funds for both funding periods.”

As of right now, Covaleski stated that they have around $11,000 set aside for the next funding period, which will begin around March 12.  That amount is only around half of what they gave out Monday, but they do expect rollbacks in between periods, which should bump the amount to around $16,000. 

“Usually the second half in the spring is not as busy because people are graduating and people have, in a way, checked out for the year,” Covaleski said.

When it comes to the total budget, the amount never increases significantly, which can have an effect on new clubs to the University. Andrew LeDonne, USG Vice President, said the clubs have the opportunity to argue for their budget by scheduling a session with Covaleski, but they also had the chance to meet with him last week, prior to this week’s meeting.

“As a club, you can try to get more. We are really strapped for money. Our budget has never increased, but our amount of clubs always increases, so it’s something we are definitely fighting,” LeDonne said following the meeting Monday.

Budget forms for the next period are due right before Spring Break.

photo by Zachary Russo
Freshman Senator Amber Mole reads off budget allocations at Monday’s USG meeting.