Photo by Nadia Deljou | The Signal
After joining BSA Georgia State in September, Hart said she noticed how the organization received $1,700 of funding for the current fiscal year. She said the club can’t do much with that amount of funding.“As one club, I would have to collaborate with six other people to get this one speaker,” she said.
BSA Georgia State hopes to bring Bill Duke, the filmmaker of ‘Dark Girls,’ to the university, but it would cost $5,000, according to Hart. The organization also wants to visit Malcolm X’s exhibit, which has a $10,000 price tag.
“We’d love to be the organization to give Georgia State this event, but if we don’t have the money then what can we do but probably pass it up to Spotlight or Campus Events or try to get it through another college,” she said.
Funding organizations are seeking
Multicultural organizations should receive at least $10,000 a fiscal year to achieve their goals, according to Hart.
“… Because a speaker can be $1,500. So if you have two speakers, that is a big chunk of your thing already,” she said. “I think thats a better gauge to see ‘OK. You got 10K this year. Now what did you do with your 10K?”
She also said for the next fiscal year, BSA Georgia State applied for approximately $6,000.
“We’re just like even though this is high, we would rather get cut down from a high number than cut down from an even lower number,” Hart said.
Georgia State’s Diversity Fee Council allocations for FY 2015
Organizations Receiving the Least Funding
|
The diversity fee committee is a part of the Student Allocation Funds committee and funds organizations within the diversity and multicultural context, according Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Darryl Holloman.
“So the diversity fee committee has money allocated to it and those groups would apply for funding through the diversity fee committee versus the general fee committee,” he said.
Director for Student Affairs Administration Shantavia Reid-Stroud also said diversity fee committee received $96,050 in funding this fiscal year.
Organizations must update the committee on how money was used in the previous year and give them a proposal to receive funding, according to Holloman. The amount of money organizations receive is not automatic.
“It’s all based upon the proposal and how strong the proposal is. [It is also] how individual groups have been working stewards with their money,” he said. “Students and the committees really work to make a determination on how best to allocate the funding for each year.”
Holloman said organizations can get additional funding through fundraising.Hart said her organization needs to gain more of an understanding of the fundraising process but has received vendor request forms for fundraising.“I know one thing that trips a lot of orgs [organizations] up is the paperwork that happens,” she said. “Georgia State [and] SGA wide should look into helping smaller ones [organizations] throughout.”Another difficulty BSA Georgia State has faced is the limited space for on campus room reservation, according to Hart.“I feel like when we tried to do BSA week, we had these four reservation forms and were ready to turn them in and excited to start our week,” she said. “Then all of them got shot down for the fact that the School of Music has every room in the University Center and Student Center booked.”
Comparing funding across campuses
After talking to representatives from BSA Kennesaw State University, Hart compared their funding to BSA Georgia State’s. She said BSA Kennesaw State’s budget is significantly higher with funding in the tens of thousands.
“I think it is attributed to their university actually saying ‘As this black student alliance you are the voice for our black students.’ So I feel like they put more into it because they are specifically programing for the black students,” she said.
BSA Kennesaw State brought Angela Davis, an American political activist and author, to their school recently with their budget, according to Hart.
“Like here with us, there is no way I could even send Angela Davis an email because we don’t have money to and sometimes we think should we just collab [collaborate] with Spotlight but I feel like once you do have to do 45 days before,” she said. “It completely takes your autonomy away. So its like, is it even worth it to send that in to Spotlight to get that fund to just to get sort of erased in the process?”
Holloman said organizations can submit an appeal if they are unhappy with their allocated funding.
“They do an appeal that is reviewed by me. I would go back and reconvene the committee if it was a legitimate thing and it would appeal to the dean of students,” he said.
The Signal could not reach Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Vice President (VP) Sebastian Parra and SGA VP of Public Relations Camryn Bradley for comment by press time.
Other organizations such as Turkish Cultural and Student Association, African Students Association and Hong Kong Student Association were also contacted for comment but upon request could not provide comment by press time.
The Signal reached out to Director for Student Affairs Administration Shantavia Reid-Stroud for comment. However, Reid-Stroud could not provide information by press time. This report will be updated online with Reid-Stroud’s information on organization’s funding when provided.
