The Student Union, an umbrella organization of major student groups revitalized this year after a long period of inactivity, recently discovered $70,000 in its account. Ricky Gresh, director of student activities, discovered the money just before spring break, when he was reviewing the accounts of various student groups.
Although Gresh said he was unaware of the source of the newly found money, Swathi Bojedla '07, the interim chair of the Student Union, assumes it is the remainder of a contingency fund established by the Union years ago, before it waned out of existence in the early 1980s. Katherine Husk '07, the interim secretary of the Student Union, also is not sure where the money came from, although she agrees with Bojedla's hypothesis.
Bojedla believes that the account was originally much smaller, but that it grew exponentially from interest over the course of the last 20 years. "I'm pretty sure there's no way that (in the early '80s) they left $70,000 in a bank account, especially considering how much that must have been worth then," Bojedla said.
The Student Union was formed in 1973, and until the early 1980s it served as an umbrella organization that united some of the key student groups on campus, distributed funds garnered from the student activities fee to different groups and planned campus-wide events.
When the Undergraduate Finance Board was established in the early 1980s, however, the new group assumed responsibility for allocating funds, making the Student Union virtually obsolete, Gresh said. It was at this time that the Student Union stopped meeting.
The Student Union was re-established last semester under Gresh, though it no longer serves the role of allocating funds to Brown's various student groups. Bojedla and Husk were appointed to the positions of interim chair and secretary.
The new Student Union hosted the Faunce Turns 100 birthday party using funds provided by its member groups. It was not until months later that the Student Union found the $70,000 in its account.
The money "certainly helped increase the legitimacy of the Student Union," Bojedla said. She said that in planning future events, it will be better to not have to ask member groups to "sacrifice part of their budget for a mission that is not their own," given the tight budgets with which many groups are currently working.
The Student Union's membership currently includes the Special Events Committee, Brown Lecture Board, Brown Concert Agency, Brown Television, Brown Student Radio, Brown Film Society, the Underground and Brown Key Society.
Husk and Bojedla are still not sure about how they would like to use the newly-found money and both expressed reticence about spending it prematurely.
"We don't want to rush into anything, because we're still a new group," Bojedla said.
She added that it would be beneficial to allow the money to collect even more interest before it is spent.
Bojedla said the purpose of the Student Union is to foster tradition at Brown, and therefore its leaders are thinking of using the money to create a new annual event.
Husk said that next semester there would be a Fall Weekend in addition to Spring Weekend. The Student Union was instrumental both in establishing Fall Weekend and in planning this year's program for Spring Weekend, she said.
Elections will be held in the fall to establish a more formal leadership structure for the Student Union. After the elections, the Union will begin to consider potential uses of its money more seriously.
