For many of the organizations at Oakland University to function properly, funding will always be an essential factor, and the Student Activity Fee (SAF) is OU’s main way of funding all student organizations.
The SAF funds come from each student’s tuition, as a small sliver is taken from each student, and then divided between OU’s bigger organizations such as the Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC), The Oakland Post, WXOU, the Student Program Board (SPB), Student Video Productions, Club Sports, the Student Life Lecture Board and the Student Activity Funding Board (SAFB).
On Friday, March 29, the OUSC attempted to pass a bill allowing OU Club Sports a much-needed three percent increase to their share of the SAF funds by taking a percentage from SAFB and SPB in the process. Although SAFB was on board with the plan, Matthew Murray, the president of SPB, feels that their percentage would be better utilized at SPB.
“We are by far the most efficient with our money in terms of the number of students that we serve,” Murray said. “It’s our responsibility to plan events on campus, and so we use that money to do just that. That one percent, I argue, has more value in the long run for more students than it would at Club Sports. It’s about the impact that we can have on the most students, so I see more value there.”
Murryum Farooqi, the president of OUSC, is disappointed with SPB, believing the organization caused damage through the disagreement of the terms of the bill.
“They [SPB] claim that they also care about club sports, but then, when they have the opportunity to do something about it, they’re turning it around,” Farooqi said. “It’s just very slanted and it’s really hurting Student Activities Funding Board and Club Sports.”
While it is simple to blame the organization that isn’t budging, Kara Delventhal, the programming assistant for the OU Recreation and Well Being Center, helps oversee the 25 club sports and feels it is important not to point fingers.
“I completely understand why he did not give up a percentage,” Delventhal said. “I do not want any fingers pointed at SPB because their entire reason was that there are certain spending habits of other organizations that did have a higher percentage than us, so he was not willing to give up a percentage that he knew was going directly towards students when they [the other organizations] were spending that money in a way that was not going towards the entire student body.”
The decision made at the OUSC meeting was all or nothing, meaning either they would agree to give Club Sports the full three percent, or no change at all for the coming semester. Unfortunately, the bill was tabled and Club Sports did not receive any increase for the following year.
“I’m disappointed that it didn’t pass because it could have helped out club sports in the long run, and immediately to get that extra two percent,” Murray said. “Now we have to go back and deal with it again [next year].”
