Despite losing 70 percent of its annual budget, the Undergraduate Council of Students is still running smoothly, according to UCS President John Gillis '07.
Last spring, the Undergraduate Finance Board, which is in charge of allocating student activities funds to student groups, decided to cut the council's budget by $10,000, meaning UCS will receive only $4,313.40 this year. That figure is down from $14,394.80 for the 2005-06 academic year, according to UFB budget agreements.
"We've been working hard to be thrifty," Gillis said.
UFB Chair Cash McCracken '08 said much of the cut funding had been going to Facilities Management to set up Petteruti Lounge before each UCS meeting. This cost amounted to $3,000 per semester, or just over $200 a week. McCracken added that budget determinations were made based on the needs of the campus as a whole and that UFB was eager to eliminate unnecessary costs.
"It's pretty easy (to set up the room)," McCracken said, observing that UFB sets up its own chairs before meetings. "The money is better put to use for student programs," he added.
Gillis said Facilities Management had in the past set up the room professionally and put down "nice tablecloths." Now the room looks more disorderly and many desks are covered with graffiti, he said.
"It doesn't give us a good image," he added.
But budget cuts have not affected the functioning of the organization. "UCS has always gotten its stuff done; it was like that when we had a bigger budget and it's like that now," Gillis said.
UCS Communications Chair Michael Glassman '09 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the council plans to pursue numerous initiatives this year.
"UCS is hard at work as the voice of the undergraduate student body," he wrote. "This year, we are focusing on important projects such as improving (Internet Protocol Television), keeping the (Verney-Woolley Dining Hall) open on weekends and throughout the day, creating and developing the January@Brown winter term, as well as increasing environmental sustainability. UCS, as always, supports the allocation of budgets by UFB."
This year, UFB has also been able to provide more funds to student groups because it received an additional $100,000 partially funded by a $10 increase in the student activities fee.
"We wanted to make sure we accurately funded all groups," McCracken said.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the additional funds was the Brown Concert Agency, which received more money than it had in its proposed budget. BCA leader Anna Rothschild '07 said she was surprised when UFB offered $20,000 more than her group requested. "It's a really fantastic thing," she said.
Rothschild said the additional money could bring higher quality artists for Spring Weekend. Because of the nature of the entertainment industry, artists' prices rise significantly each year, she said.
"Money can make the difference between acts people are willing to see and acts that there's a real passion for," Rothschild said.
McCracken said UFB increased BCA's budget because of an agreement between the two groups that required BCA to share profits over a certain amount with UFB. These profits can then be reinvested into student groups.
Former UFB Chair Swathi Bojedla '07 told The Herald last semester that the board decided to increase BCA's budget because of an agreement that "allowed for (UFB) to spend an additional $20,000 (earned by BCA) on student groups in a year where we would have had to cut funding severely without such help."