General Studies Lounge

Dear Student Council members,

This message calls for an email vote for the approval of the funding allocation from the GSSC to Funding @ Columbia University arrived at by outgoing President Nancy Saunders, incoming VP of Finance Elie Colley and myself.

Please forgive the lengthy email. The detail that follows gives you an indication of how serious this vote is to not only the students of General Studies, but also to the impact Funding @ Columbia University has on the GSSC budget and on undergraduates across the other three schools at Columbia. I welcome any and all corrections to details contained here from anyone.

The email is broken up into sections. First I discuss what Funding @ Columbia University is, how it is run, the process in context to the GSSC historically, the GSSC budget and then I define what allocation the GSSC arrived at for this year. Finally, I call for an email vote to approve this allocation.

For a list of Columbia terms and acronyms see: http://gslounge.com/faq/terms

Background:

Each year the four student councils (Columbia College Student Council, School of Engineering Student Council, Barnard Student Government Association and the General Studies Student Council) meet to discuss how to fund the governing boards of the student clubs and pay facilities fees. Funding @ Columbia University (F@CU) is the name of this meeting/process.

What F@CU funds:

* Student group governing boards:
o ABC: Student cultural and religious groups
o SGB: Student political and activist groups
o IGC: Greek organizations (fraternities, sororities)
o Club Sports: Sporting related groups from ping pong to the equestrian club
* WKCR: The undergraduate-run radio station
* Facilities Fees
o Lerner, The Library system etc.

The F@CU process:

The F@CU meeting is a fifteen hour meeting where, ideally, each council has their outgoing president and VP of Finance working in tandem with their incoming president and VP of Finance. This year the F@CU meeting was May 8th. Attending the meeting for the GSSC was myself, Nancy Saunders, Elie Colley. We were supported by Michael Rain.

The governing board presentations are the main component of the F@CU meeting. Each governing board presents to the councils in turn. They summarize their achievements from the current year, and discuss their budget requests for next year. The conclusion of their presentation is a question and answer period for the councils.

Following all the governing board presentations the councils discuss the proposals and then arrive at a funding level that suits each council.

F@CU in context to the General Studies Student Council:

The GSSC allocation of funds into F@CU this year was done in "full ratio." "Full Ratio" is a phrase in accounting-speak for the ratio of students each college has toward the total number of students. The ratio for each college indicates how much of the overall cost of F@CU each college pays. This is a simplification, however, full details about the ratio calculation and the ratio itself will be presented on gslounge.com by VP of Finance Elie in the coming months.

To the best of my knowledge, full ratio payment into F@CU is a relatively recent development. Full ratio has been around for less than five years. Full ratio is a significant shift in policy direction for the GSSC and is inline with the general push by the council and the administration to more seamlessly integrate the student life of GS students with that of other students in the other colleges.

Why does the council historically pay full ratio?

By paying full ratio the GSSC obtains the following benefits for GS students:

* Membership: GS Students can become a member of any student group
* Leadership: GS Students can lead any student group
* Politics: Student governing boards are more accountable for the questions and concerns of the GSSC and the marketing requirements to reach out to GS students

Paying less than full ratio gives groups the excuse to disenfranchise GS students as they seek to participate and/or lead student groups.

The GSSC Budget:

Last year the GSSC budget, funded by student life fees, was roughly $200,000. Dean Stellini, our liaison with the Dean of Students office, believes that this year the GSSC budget will be roughly equivalent. This is based on his assessment that enrollment will be stable.

The 2008-2009 F@CU Allocation:

The allocation arrived at by the GSSC for our participation in F@CU for 2008-2009 is the exact same dollar amount as last year: $108,734. It was extremely important not to raise our allocation. As we heard from Dean Stellini, there is no reason to expect our funding to increase. Elie did a fine job working with the other councils, who *did* pay more this year, to make sure that they understood our budget constraints and allowed us to fund at the same level as last year.

Email Vote:

I hope I am doing this right, Michael Rain will correct me if I get this wrong :-)

I propose that the GSSC adopt the allocation from the GSSC to Funding @ Columbia University of $108,734. This allocation, being the same allocation as last year represents a tremendous value of enfranchising General Studies students in membership and leadership opportunities in student groups on campus.

To support this allocation: vote YAY
To decline to support this allocation: vote NAY

To discuss this allocation: reply-all to this message

To vote: Send an email with your vote and send it to myself (bcb2115@columbia.edu) and VP of Policy Michael Rain at mr2593@columbia.edu. Michael, in his role as VP of Policy will be certifying this and all email votes.

Thanks so much for your time, and thanks again to Nancy Saunders, Elie Colley and Michael Rain for their help during the F@CU process.

Brody Berg

Student Body President
General Studies Student Council 2008-09
Columbia University
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