About 25 student group and ASSU representatives filled Old Union 200 on Monday night for an informational meeting about how to prepare their 2010 budgets ahead of application season for special fees funding.
The session came on the heels of several weeks of action on and debate over special fees reform, which elected student leaders have called necessary for the long-term health of ASSU’s — and student groups’ — budgets.
ASSU leaders last week approved changes to next year’s special fees funding policies that will tighten how special fees groups — about 50 of Stanford’s largest student clubs and organizations — may spend the money students vote to allocate them in spring elections. The ASSU Undergraduate Senate continued debate at its meeting Tuesday night.
Financial officers for groups hoping to apply for special fees were required to attend an information session; another is set for today at 7 p.m. Few officers attended committee meetings in recent weeks where many of the reformed policies were developed.
On Monday, Quinn Slack ’11, the ASSU elections commissioner, led off with a walk-through about how groups can secure a spot on the special fees ballot this spring. Roxna Irani ’10, the funding coordinator for Stanford Student Enterprises, discussed how to use the “myGroups” Web site for submitting group budgets.
Anton Zietsman ‘12, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told groups that the Senate will not extend deadlines and expects student groups to prepare their applications early. He said undergraduate and joint groups should come to mandatory interviews with the Appropriates Committee prepared to justify any increase in their budget.
The committee implemented more stringent guidelines this year for many line items, including event food, which it disallowed unless “absolutely necessary for the success or occurrence of the event.”
Countdown to Election
In the first three weeks of every quarter, undergraduates, who this academic year have paid $119 per quarter in special fees, are allowed to apply for a refund from groups they do not wish to fund. ASSU financial leaders have expressed a concern that many students request refunds but continue to use special fees groups’ services and programming.
Refund rates have continued to rise; after this quarter’s seven-quarter high of 379 student requests for full refunds of special fees, the ASSU began reforming the special fees process to keep from overspending its budget.
The process to get special fees begins with groups submitting a budget and application, as well as scheduling an interview with the Undergraduate Senate or Graduate Student Council, depending on which student population the group serves.
Once a club receives approval, provided that its budget request does not increase from the previous year by more than the 2.7-percent inflation rate and that the group was approved by voters last year, the group gets placed on the ballot.
Groups that request more than a 2.7-percent increase must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 10 percent of their student population — graduate, undergraduate or both.
If the Senate or GSC deny a group’s application for an increase, the group can still get on the ballot by going through the same petition process, but with signatures from 15 percent of the appropriate population.
The special fees application deadline is Feb. 19; the petition deadline is March 5. The spring election is set for April 8-9.