The Student Union Society (SUS) released a revised 2019-20 budget this April that includes $15,000 in funding for student run events.
The biggest change in the new budget is the addition of student funding, which replaces Clubs and Associations (C&A) funding. Students no longer need to be members of a registered club or association in order to receive funding from SUS to host events on campus.
SUS finance manager Jennifer Berg said that students are the Society’s priority, and while C&A falls within that scope, member engagement is not limited to clubs and associations and funding should reflect that.
The amendments come as a result of the referendum passed by students in April 2019, which increased funding to SUS fees by $6.50 for a total of $36.50 per student per semester. The previously released budget, presented at the AGM held April 5, had no money set aside for C&A. This was due to overhead costs and attempts to eliminate deficit from previous years, according to Berg.
While the change was made back in February by the executives to the 2018-19 budget, only the Fund Request policy was updated. The Fund Request procedures and forms were untouched, and are still only located on the SUS website.The previous procedures for requesting funding still apply.
Student funding provided by the Society is to be used “to hold a community-building event on campus,” as stated in the updated policy.
“This can be any event that engages students or supports them with non-academic opportunities,” Berg said.
The new policy states that the funding is to be used for events, not items; whatever is purchased must be consumed during the event. For example, the Pen and Paper Tabletop Club (PPT) can buy pizza if it is for an event open to all students, not just registered members of the PPT, but can’t purchase board games or t shirts featuring a PPT graphic.
