The annual Week of Champions at Oakland University begins next Monday and features activities throughout the week designed to entertain and excite students.

The week, dedicated to showing spirit, culminates with the Madnezz event Oct. 12, which celebrates the beginning of the 2012 NCAA division I basketball season.

According to the President of OU’s Student Program Board, Nicholas McCormick, this year’s WOCOU marks a change in the way SPB handles the event. SPB, the largest funded student organization at OU, has decided to re-allocate funding, in the amount of $5,000, which normally would have gone to the athletics department for the event, to additional expenditures.

“We took a look at what we were doing with the event (the Madnezz) and our stake in it and we decided we would redirect our funds to a more student centered funding base rather than just a transfer of money,” McCormack said.

OUSC on board

OU Student Congress President Samantha Wolf agreed with SPB’s decision to redistribute the money.

“I think that the re-allocation of $5,000 was a wise decision made by the SPB board,” Wolf said. “With the re-allocation of students’ money, SPB will be able to have more control over how it is spent and will reach more students.

“The money will be used for further fall programs that students have voiced their enthusiasm for,” Wolf said.

McCormick said the movement of SPB funds did not come from outside pressure but by re-evaluating last year’s performance.

“Last year everyone (the other student orgs) was moving up and we were just stuck doing the same ten events during the fall semester,” McCormick said. “I’m not going to let that happen anymore. We’re stuck in 1.0 and everybody’s moving on to version 3 or 4 of their organizations.”

According to Wolf, SPB’s new priorities are directly in line with how the other student organizations are operating.

“I am very proud on how well student organizations are working together this year,” Wolf said. “It allows the students to have a better college experience and all the decisions SPB has made are centered around that goal.”

Providing for students

Most of the changes SPB are initiating come as a direct result of their revamped desire to provide even more for the students whose tuition dollars fuel the year’s events.

“(Students) entrust us with their money,” McCormick said. “I want to take it a step further and get the most diverse programming that we can do things that haven’t been done before. It’s a philosophy change.”

McCormick is adamant about the reasons behind SPB’s decision to remove the $5,000 from the athletics department’s Madnezz budget.

“It’s not a negative thing against athletics. We definitely support WXOU but this has nothing to do with our (position),” McCormick said.

Contact Local Editor Mark McMillan via email a [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @Markamcmillan