After tabling a $5,445 request from the Leadership Development Program (LDP) before fall break, the Student Finance Board (SFB) funded the group's second annual "Leadership Lock Up."
Concerns about the program's cost, length and compliance with Residence Life requirements at the Oct. 20 SFB meeting caused SFB to unanimously table the request.
Presented in conjunction with the office of Residential and Community Development, the day-long program would take place Jan. 15, the Saturday before the move-in after winter break, and include team-building activities, workshops, round-table discussions and networking opportunities for student leaders, according to Julie Jeral, LDP president.
The event, Jeral said, would begin with registration at 10 a.m. and end in the late evening with teambuilding activities and awards.
The Lock Up is required to be all day, because Residence Life does not want students on campus unsupervised by professional staff. Jeral said she was pleased that students would be able to move in Friday evening and attend the Lock Up the following Saturday morning.
Last year, Jeral said, attendees complained about moving in Saturday morning and then attending the conference immediately after on that same day.
Half of the expected 300 attendees will be Residence Life staff members who will be required to attend while the rest will be student leaders from campus organizations. Many SFB members were concerned that Residence Life would be sending half of the attendees but only paying $2,600 towards the total bill of $8,044.
"I have a real serious issue that Res Life is demanding so much but can't even pay for all of dinner," Danielle Grinblatt, junior accountant, said.
Jon Borst, sophomore representative, agreed that it seemed unfair that SFB would not be paying for something that Residence Life members are required to attend when Residence Life was not contributing more funding to the program.
In addition, to receive the money from Residence Life, LDP had to order dinner through Sodexho at $15 per person. Craig Gross, SFB chairperson, pointed out that the board could probably get pizza for dinner for less, even without Residence Life's contribution.
Bill Caroll, director of finance, said the program should not even need to run all day and that a later start would save the board $2,000 by not paying for lunch.
"Why not have students come at 1 (p.m.) and then we save a meal? By 6 (p.m.) I was tired of being there," he said, referring to last year's lockup.
Jeral defended the program, saying that it takes all day to network with strangers and said that starting the program early allowed the Residence Life staff members get to bed earlier for the move-in the next day, but the board remained skeptical.
Matthew Civiletti, Student Government Association (SGA) vice president of administration and finance, suggested cutting lunch and giving the program only $3,439. His motion, however, would require LDP to move the program to begin at 1 p.m. and Residence Life to allow attendees to move in Saturday morning.
Mary Ennis, assistant chairperson, said that the board had no right to dictate a schedule to Residence Life, and instead suggested that the request be tabled to try to work out the problems that the board identified with the request.
On Oct. 27, LDP returned with the revised numbers that the board had requested. By using Residence Life's $2,600 Sodexho credit for lunch, and simply ordering pizza for dinner, Jeral was able to cut the total amount of the request to $3,100.
"I think LDP did just what we asked them to do," Mary Ennis, assistant chairperson, said about the new numbers.
A motion to give LDP $3,100 passed 13-1.
The board also considered a $2,100 request from the Korean American Student Association (KASA) to bring the Song Hee Lee Dance Company to the College on Nov. 4 to be part of Asian American Association's "Experience Asia" month..
The request was almost tabled when Julia Pratt, director of communications, realized that KASA's budget was frozen due to an incomplete contact information sheet. The board fully funded the request by a vote of 14-0, but on the condition that KASA provide contact information for its president within the next few days.
The board welcomed back Ravi Kaneriya, a freshman representative last year, as the newly appointed SGA representative. On Oct. 27, freshman Brittinie Wilkins to fill the vacant freshmen representative position.
