By: MEGAN STUDDARD, JESSE SUTTON
Editor-in-Chief, News Editor
The Student Government Association allocates funding for recognized clubs and student organizations at Piedmont.
On Wednesday, Nov. 13, SGA held a special meeting with club leaders to discuss their needs and outline the procedure for requesting funding.
There were leadership representatives from 11 student clubs and organizations present: Team Piedmont, Biology Club, Outdoor Club, Sigma Alpha Pi, Campus Activity Board, The Navigator, Kayaking Club, Psi Chi, Alpha Lambda Delta, German Club and Green Club.
Only recognized clubs and organizations on campus can ask for SGA funding.
According to President Sam Thomas and SGA adviser Natalie Crawford, for a club to be recognized, SGA must have bylaws and constitution on file.
Once a recognized organization wants to ask for funding, it must submit a proposal to SGA.
“We need a written proposal before you ask for money,” said Vice-President Katheryn Knarr. Knarr noted that proposals can be submitted via email or in print.
“We do always encourage clubs and organizations, especially those that don’t have built in funding, to fundraise because SGA’s budget is pretty minimal,” said Crawford. “I would caution you not to spend funds expecting that your proposal will be approved.”
According to Knarr, SGA began the year with $5,000 in the budget.
She announced at the Nov. 13 meeting that the budget was $4,310. This does not reflect the money allocated during that meeting.
At last week’s meeting, the Campus Activity Board presented a proposal requesting $600 for officers to attend the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) conference on Feb. 15-19 in Boston.
Sophomore business major Emily DeLorenzo brought the proposal before SGA.
“We went to the regional conference last year and we got Ronnie Jordan, Six Appeal and the Asia Project, [all] which had a great attendance,” said DeLorenzo.
CAB plans to send three officers and graduate assistant Kayla Watson to the conference where they will view entertainers to possibly bring to Piedmont for an event.
DeLorenzo said that CAB has been doing fundraisers at their events and are planning a Krispy Kreme sale, but they figured they will be short $600.
While students debated the proposal, Crawford, adviser to both CAB and SGA, encouraged SGA to accept the proposal, emphasizing that the CAB officers were willing to drive to the conference and pay any additional costs out of pocket.
Crawford also outlined the specific costs of the trip, including the hotel and registration fees, as well as the fundraising profits.
According to Crawford, the group has raised $119.
Freshman senator Josh McGowan asked if CAB had their own budget, and DeLorenzo explained that their budget was reduced. Crawford then said that CAB does not have a travel budget.
Thomas and Fine Arts representative Jennifer Pitt calculated the fees and concluded that the trip would cost over $3,000.
Crawford then confirmed that CAB had already received $1,800 from the student travel budget.
Crawford said the student travel budget derived from her request for student travel as the head of the Department of Student Activities and Campus Events. However, the $1800 CAB received from the student travel budget is not enough to pay for the members wishing to attend.
“Honestly, from my perspective, 600 is a big number, especially in the scheme of things, when there are a lot of clubs that are a lot smaller and need funding a lot more than CAB,” Knarr said. “I know that sounds awful, but there are clubs here that don’t have anything. They are starting with nothing. Six hundred dollars is a big number. I would be okay with maybe making that number smaller.”
Additionally, Thomas emphasized that the $600 would be supplemental as opposed to paying for the entire trip.
DeLorenzo said that CAB should receive the funds because they host events for the entire student body. However, she confirmed that CAB is not guaranteed events from this conference.
Although SGA previously decided not provide money to clubs with budgets, it voted to allot CAB $300 for the trip.
Other topics discussed during the meetings included:
• Sophomore business major Drew Long represented the Kayak Club, a new student organization on campus, and introduced the new club to SGA.
• Psi Chi mentioned that they were working on a proposal for money to host a child for Christmas.
• In the Nov. 6 meeting, SGA approved $140 to Roteract for t-shirts and $300 to the American Marketing Association for their “Graduation’s Right Around the Corner” event.