The Colgate University Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution Tuesday, April 15 changing how the Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism and Education (COVE) and the Office of the Chaplains access funding from the Budget Allocation Committee (BAC). Now, groups under these organizations must receive BAC approval on either a per-event basis or submit budgets to the BAC at the beginning of each semester. Previously, groups under these organizations would submit their budgets to the COVE or the Chaplains Office which allocated money from block grants received from the BAC.
Student groups are funded through the BAC, which itself is funded through the student activities fee included in tuition. Traditionally, most clubs operating through the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) or Africana, Latin, Asian and Native American (ALANA) Cultural Center request funding from the BAC to plan programming. Meanwhile, the advising offices of the COVE and the Office of the Chaplains received block grants every semester. Individual groups, including the Maroon-News, will continue to receive block grants.
Student senators and members of both groups gathered in Benton Hall on Tuesday, April 8 to debate the proposed change to the BAC rules that would end the use of block grants for those organizations. After a petition circulated among COVE leaders last week advocating to keep the block grant, many students sought clarity on whether the changes would remove funding for their groups. The change, now approved by the SGA Senate, will not remove any funding from these student organizations but rather change the way the groups access their funding.
Rev. Corey MacPherson, the university chaplain and campus Protestant minister, explained how his office used their funding in the past.
“The block grant the chaplains office receives is primarily designated to support minority religious groups in observing required holy days and practices — such as Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Holi and the High Holidays,” MacPherson said. “This funding is not intended for all religious groups or regular weekly programming but rather for meeting specific obligations tied to religious law on the most sacred days of the year.”
The BAC decided to amend its policy after it ran out of money last semester. In the fall, groups under COVE or the Office of the Chaplains were still able to run programming after the BAC stopped funding activities.
This created equity concerns after ALANA-advised cultural groups who sometimes host religious events could not fund their events but religious groups operating out of the Office of the Chaplains could continue programming using their block grant. Senior and SGA President Elsa O’Brien felt the policy change would address this concern.
“Part of the inequality this change works to solve is unequal access among religious organizations. Most religious organizations are housed under the chaplains office, but some ended up under ALANA, which means some groups have access that others don’t,” O’Brien said.
Sophomore Andrew Ludwin, who currently serves as treasurer of the BAC, fielded questions about the proposal to remove the block grant for two hours at the April 8 meeting. Similar to O’Brien, Ludwin saw the change as a way to increase equity, as groups from all advising offices could now run programming.
“Given how quickly the BAC ran out of funding in the fall, it raised questions about why some advising offices received block funding with virtually no oversight before any other organizations had a chance to access it, while the majority of groups did not receive any such funding,” Ludwin said. “When the BAC funds ran out, roughly 140 organizations were limited in their programming, while about 50 got to continue. This legislation strives to make sure all roughly 200 organizations have equal access throughout the academic year.”
COVE provides funding for students who volunteer with the Hamilton Fire Department as well as Madison County EMS (MCEMS) services. The unpredictable nature of the work that these groups do with community partners means they would not be able to operate within the BAC’s procedure of submitting a budget two weeks before an event. Junior Alisha Greenstein attended Tuesday’s meeting on behalf of MCEMS and the Colgate Jewish Union (CJU), which operates through the Office of the Chaplains. After the meeting, she still expressed worries about the new BAC process.
“The BAC meets every Sunday, which is why fire and EMS are concerned about getting the funding needed,” Greenstein said. “If an urgent need for funding arises during the time in between BAC meetings, I’m not sure what we would be able to do.”
Ludwin acknowledged these extenuating circumstances, clarifying that, in the event of an emergency, MCEMS and the firefighters would be allowed to request funding after the fact.
“We will never, ever, look at a budget that has extra costs associated because of your outreach with a community partner and judge based on that,” Ludwin said.
Another area of concern was about acquiring cultural dishes for religious events operating through the Office of the Chaplains. Ludwin highlighted an exception made that would allow student groups to purchase food that aligns with religious standards, such as halal or kosher options. He also addressed the concern raised by some that students would be “requesting the right” to practice their faith celebrations from the BAC.
“The BAC does not evaluate proposals based on its religious law — we just say, if it’s guaranteed by the University, like all the major holidays that are in the chaplains’ block grant, we only look at the actual money in the proposal. You don’t need to justify why you celebrate this event at all,” Ludwin said.
MacPherson noted that the BAC had met with leaders from the Office of the Chaplains to work through any potential concerns with the funding change.
“I appreciate that BAC and SGA leaders have taken the time to meet with our office, hear our concerns and work toward a fair, transparent and supportive process for all students,” MacPherson said. “I hope those conversations will continue to move things in a positive direction.”
For the upcoming school year, any groups that would no longer receive block grant funding are guaranteed at least the amount they received in funding last year — except the funds will now come directly from the BAC. During his question and answer session after presenting the amendment, Ludwin consistently stressed that the change could actually increase COVE and the Office of the Chaplains’ funding.
“Currently, COVE groups can only operate within the limits of the 8% block grant, which restricts their programming power — the grant remains unchanged each semester, providing no flexibility for groups to enhance their outreach,” Ludwin said. “This will enable COVE and chaplains’ groups to secure as much funding as they need to broaden their outreach and volunteer initiatives, since they will no longer be confined to the block grant’s limitations.”
As the SGA Senate voted to pass the amendment, groups advised by COVE and the Office of the Chaplains will now submit budgets to the BAC as most OSI and ALANA groups do.
