Warren College Student Council has allocated the remainder of its funds for the 2002-03 school year, according to its most recent budget. These findings came after a three-week spending freeze that ended at its March 6 meeting.
“”I was hoping that there would be some money, but the fact that there isn’t wasn’t a huge shock,”” said Kirsten Bowen, Warren college sophomore senator.
At this time, the WCSC’s external funding has come to a halt; the WCSC’s executive board has announced that it will not be funding outside student organizations. Plans for internal spending include going on as planned with major events like the Warren Mystery Bus, semiformal, graduation, scholarships and leadership banquets, for which money had been previously allocated.
“”It’s really unfortunate, because there’s a lot of things we wanted to do that are going to suffer,”” Bowen said. According to her, smaller programs done on a “”much more regular basis”” will suffer.
According to President Donald Povieng, the council will be focusing on Warren students for the rest of the year.
“”If we had extra, we would love to give it to student organizations, but Warren is our priority right now,”” said secretary Julia Lee. “”I was fully in support of the freeze because every single week we gave money to student organizations.””
According to Bowen, no organizations are currently coming before the council for funds because they know that there are no funds for them to ask for. Student organizations to which the WCSC has contributed this year worked to organize Marshallpalooza, the Martin Luther King Jr. parade and an all-campus film, among other events.
The total balance of the WCSC accounts was $13,967 as of the March 6 meeting. Out of this money, the WCSC has set aside about $12,000 for Warren college’s upcoming semiformal and $2,000 for leadership scholarships awarded later in the year.
Any plans for further programming, which will be presented at next week’s meeting, could necessitate looking into other sources of funding.
“”The dean’s office has offered to assist us in funding,”” said Treasurer Chris Lee. “”We’ve been looking into the income account as well.””
The income account, which is made up of WCSC revenue generated over past years, was the source for the $12,000 semiformal allocation.
“”We usually do not deal directly with the income account,”” Lee said. “”But we felt that it was appropriate.””
According to Lee, the council is currently in the process of figuring out the procedures for accessing this income account for additional funding.
According to past budgets, which did not feature the $12,000 income account allocation, the WCSC’s balance was down to $8,906 in November 2002.
Part of the reasons leading to the spending freeze, according to Lee, was the arrival of unexpected bills from the last year’s council. Expenses from last year’s council figuring in this year’s budget totaled over $2,300, with some bills coming in as late as November 2002.
The WCSC budget for 2002-03 was comprised of $12,035 allocated by A.S. and $6,144 from its vending machine allocation, totaling $18,179. Total expenditures, not including the bills from last year’s council, amounted to about $16,300.
Costs outlined in the updated budget include $109 spent on a “”mini-retreat”” in February, which came in addition to the $1,825 retreat in November and a $990 leadership conference, also in November.
According to Bowen, the new councilmembers for 2003-04, who come in sixth week of spring quarter, will not be able to experience some of these team-building retreats.
“”The next council is going to have a really hard time,”” Bowen said. “”I can only imagine being brand-new to a council with no money.””
However, according to both Bowen and Lee, the funding freeze will be beneficial to next year’s council in that they will go in knowing exactly how much money they have, which was not the case for this year’s council.
Bowen said that while she did not feel anything was withheld from council members, it would have been “”helpful”” to have more information on the budget throughout the year.
Povieng stated during the March 6 meeting that next year the executive board would work on presenting the budget to the council as a whole.
The WCSC’s recently approved new constitution states that the budget report will “”be updated before every regularly scheduled Legislative Board meeting and a copy given to every member present.”” No copies of the budget were given to members on either the Feb. 27 or March 6 meetings.
Warren college students could be voting on an added $3 to $5 student fee increase next year to complement the WCSC budget, which, at $18,179, is about $23,000 short of the Revelle College Council’s budget and $76,000 short of the Muir college council’s budget. However, according to Povieng, a fee referendum will not be proposed until next year.
