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Printer-Friendly ModeLeftover sums in Program Board budget still up in air
March 1, 2010 —
With the winter semester almost halfway done, student organizations are reviewing their budgets and preparing for next year. The Program Board is no exception.
The group is looking for event ideas to round out the rest of this school year. Among the ideas shared at the last meeting were selling discounted tickets for a comedian, or hosting an end-ofthe-year party.
SVSU students are a bigger part of Program Board than many realize.
“We get a part of the general tuition dollars,” said John Reno, the president of the board. “We get a percentage, which was about $65,000, for the fall and winter semesters.”
Reno did not supply figures on how much Program Board has spent to date.
The biggest event the group is sponsoring is a visit from Blake Mycoskie, founder of the buyone- give-one footwear company called TOMS Shoes. Reno said that Program Board’s total donation for Mycoskie’s Monday, March 15, visit runs about $7,000.
The rest of the group’s budget has been used for smaller activities, most of which took place last semester.
Reno said that the group used its budget for inflatables at the Cards Party, as well as for inflatables and a mock rock during Homecoming week.
“We haven’t used the money on really large things, maybe a couple thousand dollars [for smaller events],” he added.
For this year’s Winter Carnival, Program Board split the cost to bring a comedian to campus with Student Association, with each group allocating $5,000 for the event, according to Reno.
One major problem Program Board faced this year was trying to secure a big-name concert for SVSU. After plans fell through, some students have wondered about the possibility for one next year.
But the group now is looking to divide the cost of one large concert into three smaller concerts.
“What we might do is have three $5,000 concerts, like one rock, one rap and one country,” Reno said. “We would like to do something like that instead of one large-scale concert.”
One potential band which Program Board is looking into having is illScarlett, a former opening act for the Plain White T’s. Local bands are also being considered as potential candidates for campus concerts.
While the Program Board is looking forward to next year, other groups are still focusing on this year.
Shelby Meadows, the Campus Events Director for Student Association, gave her views on the progress of Program Board this year.
“They’ve sponsored great events,” she said. Meadows added that problems had arisen with a last-minute cancellation of a comedian for Winter Carnival, “and they were great in fixing that.”
But Meadows said she and her committee believe the Program Board could take more initiative in putting on events.
“Last year, Program Board worked with us weekly. This year, they’re taking steps to sponsor great events, but they aren’t taking the effort to actually put on events,” she said. “It’s sad to see that’s happened with the budget they have.”
Meadows added that if the group showed more leadership and responsibility, Program Board would be more effective in helping SVSU students.
Although some are unsatisfied with this year’s work of Program Board, the executive board is working toward better events for next year. They recently went to a three-day conference for the National Association for Collegiate Activities in Boston, Mass.
Reno said that the conference was highly beneficial for the members because it allowed them to see the number of possible events which could occur at SVSU.
One potential event is bringing a speaker to campus who quickly grabbed the executive board’s attention at the conference.
“He has Tourette’s, and his speech is about tolerance,” Reno said. “After five minutes, I knew that I wanted to book him.”
Reno added that because the group paid school fees, all student organizations can have reduced rates if they decide to book any artists associated with NACA.
He said the group is looking forward to future events.
“We got a lot of really good ideas and good leads on things to bring to campus [at the conference]. We met a lot of vendors and artists that are low-budget, so we could bring stuff that’s more affordable for SVSU,” he said.