The Club Operational Budget Committee kicked off fall semester by scheduling a first set of hearings for clubs to present their requested funding. However, some problems arose during the time of hearings when two clubs were reported not registered and therefore not eligible for funding from the committee.
Registered clubs are required to justify why they should receive money for their events and supplies annually for the upcoming academic year. To be registered, clubs must go through training and create an agenda and breakdown of their budget request for the year.
Senior, psychology major and member of the COB Matthew Leeper, explained what obstacles the committee has faced during its first year of operation.
He said, over the summer WSU Vancouver switched its engagement platform from CougSync to Campus Labs — still referred to as CougSync. This new platform which allows students to start clubs and focus on creating student involvement across campus. Some clubs, however, had problems registering due to the switch in platforms.
“Since it’s the first year, it has been kind of a bumpy ride trying to get everything together and aligned. Part of that’s due to how CougSync kind of came together last minute. It came together a little bit later than we expected so those requests got off a little bit later,” Leeper explained. “Once we were going through everything, it just became really rushed getting the hearings and the requests together.”
Senior, neuroscience/biology major and member of the committee, Vince Chavez claimed that him and other members of the committee were unaware that unregistered clubs were pitching and only Nikki Hinshaw, assistant director of student involvement, knew that two clubs were unregistered.
Chavez said, Hinshaw confirmed that two unregistered clubs were scheduled to pitch right before the hearing began.
Hinshaw explained that because the unregistered clubs submitted their forms later in the process, the committee heard their pitches to be considerate.
“It’s a rolling process and two clubs that submitted budgets were not on the original lists provided. So, they came in at the last minute and to be accommodating because there was a scheduled time for hearings, they [the COB] went ahead and scheduled them,” Hinshaw explained.
Chavez, discussed the reason behind the university’s Club Operation Budget and how its purpose still remains a top priority while the committee goes through the process of distributing funds.
“The real vision behind all this is to make sure that clubs are autonomous and the students are the ones in control … This is the student’s money and there is no reason to put up so many barriers for them to access this money,” Chavez stated.
Hinshaw reported that unregistered clubs that had hearings will be put on hold for a budget request until submitting all forms required in order to complete registration.
Emily is a senior studying integrated strategic communication at WSU Vancouver.