A change in the funding of social events has not affected the amount of money available to student organizations, according to administration officials.
In 1999, Temple Student Government received $39,000 to plan and fund social and recreational events, according to Dean of Students James Fitzsimmons.
He said that social programs have traditionally been in the realm of the 20-year-old Main Campus Program Board.
Vice president for Student Affairs Theresa Powell said that she made a decision last summer to gradually move that funding back to the Program Board.
This year, the money is in an account controlled by the Office of Student Affairs, which Fitzsimmons supervises.
TSG can access this money, he said, in conjunction with either Student Affairs or the Program Board.
Next year, the money will be allocated directly to the Program Board.
“If you look at colleges around the country,” Powell said, “student governments do not generally do social [event] programming, the [have] programming that helps students as well as community service work.”
TSG could not be reached for comment before press time.
Fitzsimmons said he has received phone calls from students who say they have heard that this change will mean that less money is available to student organizations.
He says that this is not the case.
“Student organizations can go to the Program Board to pitch their ideas for a social event,” he said, “The reality is that the amount of money available for organizations has not changed.”
“[Student organizations] have not lost one dime, no one has,” Powell said, “All of the money is still in place.”
Fitzsimmons added that the amount of money that TSG has available to allocate both to student organizations and for academic events and community service remains unchanged.
TSG receives $110,000 annually to give to its member student organizations to supplement their budgets.
At Monday’s TSG meeting, treasurer Andrea Ray announced that $14,000 would be available this year for academic and service activities.
Powell said that the reallocation of the funds has come as a result of conflicts and duplications of programs that had arisen with two groups spending funds on social events.
Fitzsimmons said that Student Affairs had to financially support some TSG social events that had gone over budget.
“There was some inappropriate use of funds [by TSG] as a result of a lack of coordination,” said Powell, “we did not want competition over funds.”
“This whole issue focuses on TSG’s ability to plan [social events],” Fitzsimmons said, “However, this should not detract from all the good things TSG has done, including the activities of the [TSG] General Assembly, allocations to student organizations and community service events.”
“This is not an effort to disparage the student government,” he said, “but rather to encourage TSG in areas such as student life issues that they are directly involved in.”
Powell said that she met with both the Program Board and TSG several times since July to discuss the funding changes.
She also sent a letter to TSG that spelled out the terms of the agreement.
According to Fitzsimmons, the letter recognized TSG’s desire to be involved in campus activities and that they could do so through the Program Board.
Powell also said that by separating the types of programs that TSG and the Program Board can do, their ability to provide a variety of programs would be enhanced.
“Hopefully, this segregation of social planning [responsibilities] to the Program Board and the [responsibility] of government to TSG, both groups will be successful,” said Fitzsimmons.
Brian White can be reached at zapata@temple.edu.
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