Student groups could save considerable time and funds now that photocopying purchases under $500 will be exempt from the Brown First policy, which had mandated that groups make those purchases at Graphic Services. The change was announced at Wednesday night's Undergraduate Council of Students meeting.
"This is a huge, huge step for us," said UCS President Joel Payne '05. "I can't express enough how appreciative we are of the administration for even being open to discuss this in the first place."
Payne included eliminating Brown First in his campaign platform last spring. He credited UCS Vice President Charley Cummings '06 and Undergraduate Finance Board chair Adam Deitch '05 with drafting the policy change proposal before UCS approached the administration.
"We gave (the administration) our insight on why Brown First was harming student groups," Payne said.
The policy requires that departments and student groups first use University services such as Brown Dining Services or Graphic Services for any group-related purchases. Organizations can only use outside vendors if they are on an approved vendor list or after getting price quotes and verifying that the University service cannot match the competing price.
The new exemption will encompass 96 percent of all student Graphic Services purchases. Cummings estimated that although thousands of dollars will be saved, increased convenience is equally beneficial.
"The main thing is that student groups don't have to go back and forth searching for prices and coming back to Graphic Services to see if they can match it," Cummings said.
UCS now looks to ensure that campus groups are aware of the policy change and take advantage of it.
The BuDS aspect of the Brown First policy, however, remains in place. "Dining Services is more difficult because Brown First and Dining Services and a lot of administrators are really interested in making sure that all the vendors on the Brown First have certain qualifications," Cummings said.
Food vendors are required to have $1 million in insurance and provide health insurance for all their workers. But Cummings added that UCS will continue to work on the issue.
