When representatives from the Veterans and Family Student Association wanted a spot in the EMU for their group last year, there was one small cause for delay – the group hadn’t yet been recognized by student government.
The group wanted a space where student veterans could go for academic support, camaraderie or just a place to drink some coffee or take a nap, co-director Shane Addis said in an interview last week. But when vying for space they had to simultaneously go through the process of being recognized by the ASUO’s Recognition and Review Committee.
The committee decides which groups will be officially recognized by the ASUO and then has the power to monitor the groups to make sure they are still active, according to Liora Sponko, ASUO programs coordinator.
Sponko said recognition comes with many benefits, including greater visibility on campus, a discounted rate on meeting rooms in the EMU, and access to funding from incidental fee money. Nine new groups were recognized last year, according to the ASUO’s Web site.
In order to qualify for recognition, a group has to be active for six months with at least two meetings per month and minutes to prove it. Groups also have to fill a niche – the ASUO doesn’t want a “duplication of services” – and it has to show that its mission and goals align with those of the ASUO and the University, which aim to further the physical, cultural and educational development of students.
That’s a broad enough definition to include almost any group, Sponko said. The committee rarely objects to a group’s mission. But more often groups are told to wait until they have been around longer.
“We want to make sure they have a strong footing,” Sponko said.
Once a group is recognized they can go through the budgeting process the following year and receive incidental fee money the year after that. Most groups are given “seed money” of $300 for their first budget, according to ASUO Vice President San SunOwen.
“It seems like a good starting point for a lot of groups,” she said.
After a group is recognized and funded, the committee continues to review it to be sure it is active, SunOwen said.
“The RRC is also there… to review groups that have been under the radar for us,” she said. “The groups that have smaller budgets or just haven’t been in the office.”
Somehow that review process went awry last year for the American Advertising Federation Ad Club. The group has zero funding for the coming year because they didn’t go through the budgeting process last year. Representatives from the group came to last week’s Senate meeting and asked for $10,000 to replace their budget. Senators told them to come up with some fundraising ideas and evaluate the minimum amount they need and then ask again.
The Ad Club was one of 11 groups defunded last year, according to student government documents.
“It really goes against precedent to ask for the whole budget back,” SunOwen said.
Dave Koranda, an advertising instructor who works closely with Ad Club, said the group was unaware of last year’s budget meetings and failed to ask about them until it was too late.
“They were waiting for some sort of communication and that was a mistake,” Koranda said.
SunOwen and Sponko said ASUO controllers tried to contact the group but weren’t able to reach anyone. The Ad Club’s 2006-07 budget was $7,508.
“If they were going to conferences and spending (incidental fee) money, the controllers would have been calling the leaders,” SunOwen said. “We just couldn’t get ahold of them.”
Koranda said e-mails may have been going to a colleague who retired or a student who was no longer with the group.
It takes two years without a budget for a group to no longer be recognized, Sponko said. After that, the group can be recognized again but will have to start from the beginning.
Transitions in leadership can be difficult for a group if new leaders aren’t familiar with the budgeting process. Sponko said group directors should go to the controller’s office with new contact information at the beginning of each school year. They will then be notified when budget training starts.
To make the transition easier, Addis had this advice for new student groups: “Make sure you have strong leadership and communication over the summer.”
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