[96] in UA Senate
Re: UA budgeting principles
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ashley Nash)
Thu Oct 15 00:02:51 2009
In-Reply-To: <5d73465a0910141745v6ca68839pc96dd39f1c5c7e2b@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:02:31 -0400
From: Ashley Nash <ashnash@MIT.EDU>
To: Alex Schwendner <alexrs@mit.edu>
Cc: ua-senate@mit.edu, ua-discuss@mit.edu
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I have no problem cutting out unnecessary things to provide money towards
student groups, but I think that sometimes special projects are more
important to the MIT student body than every little thing student groups
like to buy. E.g. the produce stand in front of EC benefits a lot more
people than a free bbq in Kresge. I think that it is ultimately the groups'
responsibility to look for new ways to make money to buy the nice things
that they want. Even if we cut out all of the money we spend on food and
committees (which I would strongly disagree with doing by the way), we still
would not be able to grant all of the requests that are given to us. This
tells me that student groups need to stop looking for all of their money to
come from one source and become more creative. We should encourage
sustainability of these groups to promote their longevity and to give us the
opportunity to take on projects and run events that can help out the student
body at large.
Ashley
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 8:45 PM, Alex Schwendner <alexrs@mit.edu> wrote:
> I would like to advocate that our budgeting goal should be to allocate
> more money to student groups. Here's why:
>
> Our goal, as the Undergraduate Association, is to make things better
> for undergraduates. When it comes to money, this means that we should
> see that money gets spent on the things which most benefit MIT
> undergraduates. This might mean that we spend the money ourselves or
> this might mean that we give it to student groups who can use it.
> There are plenty of student groups who do wonderful and amazing
> things. All of us can think of student groups which get much of their
> funding from the UA which have made our time at MIT more worthwhile.
> Our goal, as the UA, should not be to do awesome things, but rather to
> see that awesome things get done.
>
> Sometimes, of course, this will mean that we should spend money on
> projects conceived by the UA and sometimes this will mean that we
> should give money to student groups. However, there is a natural,
> institutional bias toward spending the money ourselves. We need to
> fight that bias. Since we, the UA, get first crack at the money, it's
> easy to think of cool things which we can do with the money while
> forgetting about the very real and very cool things which student
> groups will *not* be able to do without that money. We can see this
> "mission creep" in UA funding in the way that the money allocated to
> UA committees has increased in past years. Yes, the UA does more with
> the increased money, but it is not always clear that it's spent better
> than it could be spent by student groups. The standards which hold for
> receiving funding from the UA general budget should be analogous to
> the standards which hold for receiving funding from UA Finboard. I
> will note that while UA committees received basically everything that
> they asked for in the Fall UA budget, student groups which applied to
> UA Finboard received less than 30% of their requests in the most
> recent funding cycle.
>
> Therefore, during the Spring 2010 budgeting process, I intend to push
> for allocating more money for student groups. Projects which we choose
> not to fund from the UA general budget can seek funding through UA
> Finboard, from LEF or ARCADE, from the MIT Administration, or from
> other funding sources.
>
> Please discuss.
>
> Alex Schwendner
>
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer)
> <ua-treasurer@mit.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> As several people have pointed out, the UA spends quite a bit of money
> on
> >> events (about a third of last semester's budget) and focused projects
> (like
> >> PLUS --- about a tenth of last semester's UA budget). As Andrew Lukmann
> >> pointed out last week, committees are spending almost twice as much in
> Fall
> >> 2009's budget as in Spring 2007's budget.
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, it is now a little bit late to make major changes to the
> >> Fall 2009 budget. Last week's meeting was intended to allow that, and we
> >> spent a great deal of time on it then. I also solicited feedback late
> Friday
> >> night (or really Saturday morning), and didn't receive any. Of course,
> you
> >> are well within your rights to amend the budget at this point. (Though
> >> Athletics Weekend has already happened, so I'd rather you didn't amend
> >> that...)
> >>
> >> However, the Spring 2010 budget has not begun being compiled. In
> preparing
> >> the the Fall 2009 budget, I (and I believe committee chairs and the
> Special
> >> Budgetary Committee) generally followed precedent as to events and
> amounts.
> >>
> >> In some sense, there are (at least) two options for guiding principles
> to
> >> take in producing the budget:
> >> (1) Many of the UA-run events are more useful than the events and
> >> programming (Finboard-funded) student groups would spend the money on
> >> (2) Alternatively, that events and programs such as Athletics Weekend or
> >> PLUS aren't worth taking the money away from those student groups
> >>
> >> We've recently been defaulting to the former guiding principle. However,
> I
> >> would encourage the Senate to seriously consider which is preferable and
> >> pass appropriate legislation indicating a preference.
> >>
> >> I would be *thrilled* to have such guidance, and would happily
> incorporate
> >> it into next semester's budget. (I warn you, however, that committee
> chairs
> >> will probably be asked to begin budgeting in about two weeks.)
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Alex Dehnert
> >> UA Treasurer
> >
>
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I have no problem cutting out unnecessary things to provide money towards s=
tudent groups, but I think that sometimes special projects are more importa=
nt to the MIT student body than every little thing student groups like to b=
uy.=A0 E.g. the produce stand in front of EC benefits a lot more people tha=
n a free bbq in Kresge.=A0 I think that it is ultimately the groups' re=
sponsibility to look for new ways to make money to buy the nice things that=
they want.=A0 Even if we cut out all of the money we spend on food and com=
mittees (which I would strongly disagree with doing by the way), we still w=
ould not be able to grant all of the requests that are given to us.=A0 This=
tells me that student groups need to stop looking for all of their money t=
o come from one source and become more creative.=A0 We should encourage sus=
tainability of these groups to promote their longevity and to give us the o=
pportunity to take on projects and run events that can help out the student=
body at large.=A0 <br>
<br>Ashley<br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 8:45 P=
M, Alex Schwendner <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:alexrs@mit.edu">=
alexrs@mit.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" s=
tyle=3D"border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8e=
x; padding-left: 1ex;">
I would like to advocate that our budgeting goal should be to allocate<br>
more money to student groups. Here's why:<br>
<br>
Our goal, as the Undergraduate Association, is to make things better<br>
for undergraduates. When it comes to money, this means that we should<br>
see that money gets spent on the things which most benefit MIT<br>
undergraduates. This might mean that we spend the money ourselves or<br>
this might mean that we give it to student groups who can use it.<br>
There are plenty of student groups who do wonderful and amazing<br>
things. All of us can think of student groups which get much of their<br>
funding from the UA which have made our time at MIT more worthwhile.<br>
Our goal, as the UA, should not be to do awesome things, but rather to<br>
see that awesome things get done.<br>
<br>
Sometimes, of course, this will mean that we should spend money on<br>
projects conceived by the UA and sometimes this will mean that we<br>
should give money to student groups. However, there is a natural,<br>
institutional bias toward spending the money ourselves. We need to<br>
fight that bias. Since we, the UA, get first crack at the money, it's<b=
r>
easy to think of cool things which we can do with the money while<br>
forgetting about the very real and very cool things which student<br>
groups will *not* be able to do without that money. We can see this<br>
"mission creep" in UA funding in the way that the money allocated=
to<br>
UA committees has increased in past years. Yes, the UA does more with<br>
the increased money, but it is not always clear that it's spent better<=
br>
than it could be spent by student groups. The standards which hold for<br>
receiving funding from the UA general budget should be analogous to<br>
the standards which hold for receiving funding from UA Finboard. I<br>
will note that while UA committees received basically everything that<br>
they asked for in the Fall UA budget, student groups which applied to<br>
UA Finboard received less than 30% of their requests in the most<br>
recent funding cycle.<br>
<br>
Therefore, during the Spring 2010 budgeting process, I intend to push<br>
for allocating more money for student groups. Projects which we choose<br>
not to fund from the UA general budget can seek funding through UA<br>
Finboard, from LEF or ARCADE, from the MIT Administration, or from<br>
other funding sources.<br>
<br>
Please discuss.<br>
<font color=3D"#888888"><br>
Alex Schwendner<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class=3D"h5"><br>
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Alex Dehnert (UA Treasurer)<br>
<<a href=3D"mailto:ua-treasurer@mit.edu">ua-treasurer@mit.edu</a>> wr=
ote:<br>
>><br>
>> As several people have pointed out, the UA spends quite a bit of m=
oney on<br>
>> events (about a third of last semester's budget) and focused p=
rojects (like<br>
>> PLUS --- about a tenth of last semester's UA budget). As Andre=
w Lukmann<br>
>> pointed out last week, committees are spending almost twice as muc=
h in Fall<br>
>> 2009's budget as in Spring 2007's budget.<br>
>><br>
>> Unfortunately, it is now a little bit late to make major changes t=
o the<br>
>> Fall 2009 budget. Last week's meeting was intended to allow th=
at, and we<br>
>> spent a great deal of time on it then. I also solicited feedback l=
ate Friday<br>
>> night (or really Saturday morning), and didn't receive any. Of=
course, you<br>
>> are well within your rights to amend the budget at this point. (Th=
ough<br>
>> Athletics Weekend has already happened, so I'd rather you didn=
't amend<br>
>> that...)<br>
>><br>
>> However, the Spring 2010 budget has not begun being compiled. In p=
reparing<br>
>> the the Fall 2009 budget, I (and I believe committee chairs and th=
e Special<br>
>> Budgetary Committee) generally followed precedent as to events and=
amounts.<br>
>><br>
>> In some sense, there are (at least) two options for guiding princi=
ples to<br>
>> take in producing the budget:<br>
>> (1) Many of the UA-run events are more useful than the events and<=
br>
>> programming (Finboard-funded) student groups would spend the money=
on<br>
>> (2) Alternatively, that events and programs such as Athletics Week=
end or<br>
>> PLUS aren't worth taking the money away from those student gro=
ups<br>
>><br>
>> We've recently been defaulting to the former guiding principle=
. However, I<br>
>> would encourage the Senate to seriously consider which is preferab=
le and<br>
>> pass appropriate legislation indicating a preference.<br>
>><br>
>> I would be *thrilled* to have such guidance, and would happily inc=
orporate<br>
>> it into next semester's budget. (I warn you, however, that com=
mittee chairs<br>
>> will probably be asked to begin budgeting in about two weeks.)<br>
>><br>
>> Thanks,<br>
>> Alex Dehnert<br>
>> UA Treasurer<br>
><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>
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