$how us the money

Budget committee undergoes complete restructuring

As quickly as University students can say their ABCs, they will have to add some more letters to the alphabet soup of student organizations.

For the past 20 years, SOBC has distributed the general funds allotted to the University Park campus to registered student organizations. Next year will be the second time that its name has changed.

In the mid-'80s, the Association of Student Activities budget committee was renamed SOBC to reflect its purpose.

But with the addition of the money collected through the $25 student activity fee, it will be the first time the committee will be completely restructured.

"Everything should be seamless to the student (except the name)," said Pam Selfe, assistant treasurer of ASA and adviser of SOBC. "Now we say SOBC to be known as UPAC."

The student activity fee, which is collected every semester from all students at all Penn State campuses, will be added to the general funds bringing the amount to be allocated to about $1.1 million per year. For the next 25 years, 63 percent of the student activity fee collected at University Park will pay for the HUB/Paul Robeson Cultural Center expansion which will be built within the next five to six years.

"They will have more than a million dollars, that's a significant responsibility," said vice president for student affairs William Asbury. "As long as they operate as SOBC did, it'll be successful."

"SOBC, as it functioned, has learned a lot this year. Based on what I know, they're moving the way we need them to," said assistant vice president for student affairs J. Thomas Eakin. Eakin chaired the Student Activity Fee Implementation Committee, which recommended the structure of UPAC.

In addition to the 15 appointed members, UPAC will have six elected representatives.

Previously, the entire committee was appointed by different student groups, but that resulted in a committee that was not diverse enough, Director of Student Life Stan Latta said. Latta was a member of the implementation committee. This committee had considered having UPAC be elected through student government elections, but there was concern the money would become too politicized.

A compromise was reached; 15 members will be appointed every February. According to the committee's recommendations, the remaining spots will be elected through the Undergraduate Student Government elections and the Graduate Student Association elections held in March.

The elections will allow more students to get involved with the process and create more diversity on the committee, Asbury said.

The appointments, which were previously done within branches of the student government, will be done by the president of USG, president of GSA, the chair of UPAC and a student designee of Asbury. SOBC Chair Kim Schafer will sit in on the appointments this year because there is no UPAC Chair. University Student Trustee Nate Nair is Asbury's designee.

"Two of the three were elected by students-at-large. I think students may argue that it's a stacked committee but I would argue the opposite . . . I think it's a good mix of students," Latta said.

Regardless of how they were selected, Selfe said members of UPAC will not be representing the organizations with which they are involved.

"These people are on the UPAC as a student," Selfe said. "They have the responsibility to take each and every student's activity fee money and put it to good use."

The structure of UPAC will differ from SOBC. In the past, all positions were lifetime appointments on one overall committee. The overall chair will be limited to one term and must have a semester of experience. In addition, two sub-committee chairs will oversee two sub-committees, which will meet separately every week to review different budgets. The complete committee will meet once a month.

"It's gotten so much bigger than one person. It's just too much," Schafer said. "We're not separate from each other. We're still one committee."

The operational sub-committee will handle travel, equipment and basic organizational funding. The programming sub-committee will handle the requests for funding for all events and activities. It will work with the Programming Coordination Board to organize the activities, Latta said.

"There are so many activities for students sponsored by the student activity fee," Schafer said. "We're trying as make we can to make sure that we are being fair. . . We want students to know exactly where their student activity fee is going."

Before the beginning of the Fall Semester, when UPAC will officially begin, the committee will go through much training to adjust to the new format and new guidelines, Selfe said.

"This committee will have a great amount of impact in shaping the activities, events, and programs at this campus," Latta said. "We certainly want students to know that we didn't just take $50 from them."