Programmers seeking fiscal help for their reinvented Sun God
Festival received $30,000 yesterday from A.S. councilmembers, an offering that
event planners say will grant them financial flexibility.

UCSD’s most talked-about annual event will be more costly this
year, with programmers planning to utilize new security measures and host more
activities. Vice President of Finance and Resources Sarah Chang said she
expected the council’s programming office to request more funding, but was
surprised at what she found to be a significant amount. Programmers usually
recanvass campus officials for funding support nearer to the festival — hosted
this year on May 16 — but their new plans for Sun God inflated operational
costs, according to Festivals Coordinator Garrett Berg.

This year’s festival will debut an almost completely
renovated festival. The overhaul marks programmers’ efforts to meet demands
from administrators that they focus on safety and community issues. Led by
Associate Vice Programming of Programming Kevin Highland, the council’s
programming department commissioned an extensive evaluation of the festival,
gathering complaints and suggestions from several administrative departments.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Penny Rue expressed worry over student safety
after the report identified a spike in the number of arrests and citations at
last year’s festival. Rue said that the festival lacked a concrete mission
statement and that programmers should seek a “community-building character” for
the festival.

After the report’s release last October, programmers have
been working with administrators to reform many aspects of the festival. Berg
said that negotiations with the police department have produced a “great
relationship.” While UCSD Police Chief Orville King was initially concerned
about the event’s traditionally unsafe environment, he has found its “new
format … quite creative.”

A.S. councilmembers had protested the strong presence of
undercover officers, saying that it did nothing to deter students from unsafe
behavior and instead promoted a distastefully authoritative culture. Rue
herself said she was irked by the logic of undercover officers, saying at a
council meeting earlier this year that “[undercover officers] don’t seem like
the way we want to police our students during the festival.”

This year’s approach to security will substitute local
undercover officers with uniformed officers from other campuses, Berg said.
Programmers wanted to utilize “like-minded” officers familiar with college-age
students; however, such a workforce costs more, Berg said, which forced
programmers to request higher levels of funding.

Programmers are negotiating with Rue’s office to “underwrite
the costs of the new security measures,” Berg said.

The programming department is also dedicating a staff solely
to garner corporate sponsorships.

Chang said that the $30,000 allocated from the council’s
general fund to the festival represented “the most that the council could
give.” Berg said that he had originally requested about double that amount, but
the figure was pared down before the council’s approval.

At the meeting, several councilmembers voiced opposition to
granting more funds to the festival, which currently manages a budget of
slightly over $400,000.

“I represent 10 student organizations that continuously get
less than they request,” Interfraternity Council Representative Luke Pulaski
said. “I don’t know where a council that insists it’s on the side of student
organizations of all sorts can justify spending this money. I love Sun God, but
we need to make the right decision.”

Vice President of Student Life and A.S. presidential
candidate Donna Bean said that the festival was a centerpiece around which
several parties that usually disagree with each other could gather.

Berg said that the allocation offers breathing space for the
department, which will still try to be as cost effective as possible.