Student organizations are a bedrock foundation of college life. They just got their budgets cut.
Tulane claims to value student organizations: “Tulane has more than 200 student organizations represented on campus…This extensive list of activities… allows all Tulane students the opportunity to get involved and make a meaningful difference on campus and in the community.”
And Tulane just docked their allowance. Under the current system, student organizations receive funding from one of four councils. Each council has a committee of representatives from the type of student organization in that council and two members of the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly.
The four councils are the Lavin-Bernick Center Allocation Council, the Campus Recreation Club Sports Recreation Council, the Carolyn Barber Pierce Center for Intercultural Life Allocation Council and the Center for Public Service Allocation Council.
A student activity fee charged to every undergraduate student and a small percentage of graduate students generates student organization funding. The activity fee has been stuck at $240 since 2012. If it had risen in a manner consistent with inflation, it would currently be $333. If it had risen in a manner consistent with Tulane’s tuition, it would be $364.
Historically, Tulane student organizations spend 80% of their allocated funds. In past years, money was distributed under the assumption that it would be almost entirely spent, so some money was kept in reserve. In 2023, knowing that 20% of allocated money would likely not be spent, the four councils allocated 10% more than the student activity fee base of $1.86 million. However, the Tulane Accounting Office did not approve of this practice and mandated the historical system of allocation resume.
Additionally, there was an explosion in recognized student organizations from last year to this year, with 49 new organizations being established, amounting to a 22.5% increase. Laura Osteen, the assistant vice president of campus life, said that membership in student organizations from last year to this year went from “55% to 74%.”
The result is that this year, “almost all of our student organizations had a budget cut of some sort,” according to Morgan Bennet, the 2024-2025 student activity allocation council co-chair.
“How do we decrease the amount of funding they’ll receive? That’s definitely hard, especially wishing there was more money to go around,” Gabrielle Reese, a co-chair of the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly, said. “People work so hard in their budget reviews I feel like it’s very hard not to take it personally.”
The total amount allocated to student organizations decreased by $293,000, a 16.5% cut in the same year student organizations increased by 22.5%. That should be a typo.
An easy way to increase the funds available would be an increase in the student activity fee. However, this is not under the purview of student government, but the University Senate, composed of faculty representatives, senior administrators, student and staff representatives. The Senate is also chaired by the president of Tulane.
There are concrete effects of these policies. This spring, Tulane’s mock trial team advanced to a tournament the program had never been to in its history. I am a member of this team. Last year, no dues were required of members to fund traveling to other colleges to compete in tournaments. This year? $75 dues. At this caliber of educational institution, student organizations should not resemble Oliver Twist. They should have all the funding they need to excel.
Where does the money go? Our library closes at night except for the first floor. Our dining hall resembles a desert filled only with rolling tumbleweeds past around 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and after 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Perhaps it was the Sodexo workers who made a $15 minimum wage. Nope, that cannot be it. Maybe the professors are hogging all this money. No, wait, nontenure staff formed a union in a landslide election because they were so tired of getting ripped off.
But one cannot forget the $100+ fees for losing a key to a dorm, or the $30 fee for losing one’s Tulane Splash Card. Tulane obviously cannot survive on a $88,000 tuition from its students. It needs more. So, keep studying, and don’t forget to lose your Splash Card; those student organization cuts do not pay for themselves.
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