Fee increased, but distribution lies in hands of students

The student activities fee will bring in nearly $560,000 more this year than it did last year…. The student activities fee will bring in nearly $560,000 more this year than it did last year.

For now, nobody knows who will get it, or how it will be distributed.

The fee, which Pitt’s board of trustees voted June 25 to increase by 33 percent at the recommendation of Student Government Board, will create a total of about $2.24 million next year. The money will be distributed among Pitt Program Council, WPTS-FM, Telefact, Student Volunteer Outreach, Panther Prints and SGB, for further allocation.

Initially, SGB recommended that each group receive a smaller percentage of the fee than they previously received, with the exception of SGB and Telefact, both of which would enjoy small increases. The overall increase of the fee would have left each group with more money than it had in previous years, despite the smaller percentage many would receive, with surpluses ranging from $2,000, for Panther Prints, to $368,610.76, for SGB.

But Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel has decided to give all of the extra money from the increase to SGB, which will then be responsible for allocating the money to the other groups.

“We are not telling [SGB] how to allocate the funds,” said Associate Dean of Student Affairs Birney Harrigan, explaining the decision on behalf of Daniel, who was on vacation for much of the summer.

Traditionally, Harrigan explained, the provost and vice provost would determine how to distribute all the funds coming from the fee. But Daniel felt that such a distribution took away much-needed flexibility in the process.

“Here, you have a demand that [SGB is] trying to meet, and [Daniel] wasn’t going to continue this practice of taking money off the top and giving the rest to SGB,” Harrigan said, adding that the fee increase was a response to increased demand for money from student groups.

For now, the funds given to groups will be capped at last fiscal year’s amounts. The student media board, the only group that will not receive what it received last year, will no longer receive any of the student activities fee, in accordance with SGB’s recommendation.

The remaining $560,000 of new revenue will be distributed by SGB, although the student board still needs to determine how it will be done.

Harrigan said that SGB would be completely responsible for allocating the new funds from the increase. She suggested that the board might distribute the funds through its standard allocations process, used to distribute money to all other groups, but she added that the board could decide to alter the process for the new funds.

Acknowledging that some groups might be upset by the changes made to the distribution, Harrigan said she believes the funds will be distributed well.

“If you are used to automatically receiving money, it’s almost like an entitlement,” she said. “It wouldn’t be surprising if these units are disappointed that this practice has been discontinued.”

Harrigan also expressed faith in SGB’s ability to handle allocating a much larger amount of money.

“This is an opportunity to empower them,” she said of the board, adding that she would be “inclined to follow up with them, just to be informed of how they’re progressing.”

But the increase in SGB’s flexibility and power will also increase the time and work required to distribute the money — problems that may prohibit groups’ abilities to plan on having money or to quickly receive requested funds, according to one student leader.

PPC Director Stefanie Odett — whose group brings speakers and bands to Pitt, organizes special student events and lines up acts for the fall and spring festivals at Pitt — expected to receive about $709,107, an increase from the group’s $589,400 budget in past years.

She said she was concerned to learn that she will, instead, receive the same amount of money she received last year.

In recent years, PPC has brought Nancy Cartwright, Dan Patrick, Maya Angelou, Russell Simmons and Queens of the Stone Age to Pitt. The speakers and bands come with prices ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 — a speaker like former President Bill Clinton would cost about $100,000 — and while PPC has been able to bring most stars to the University for a little less than their tag prices, Odett worries that she will not be able to get such stars without more money.

“It’s not so much that they’re expensive, but that I need to know how much to plan” well in advance, she said.

Being put through the allocations process for each event would not only consume much of Odett’s time, but also limit her bargaining power, she said.

“That means that we’re not guaranteed the money, and that means that I can’t guarantee the good bands and the good activities,” Odett explained.

“The longest period of time that we’ve ever put in a bid for a band or a speaker is two months in advance,” she added, saying that she nevertheless supports making funds more accessible to other student groups.

The lack of funds also affects the price students must pay for PPC-organized trips, such as one to see Pitt’s men’s basketball team play in the Sweet Sixteen game. Last year, Odett said, PPC did not have enough money to offer a weekend travel package to the games at a price that students could afford. While the cost would have been about $350 last year, she had hoped, with more funding, to offer the trip this year for as much as $200 less.

Yet SGB President Brian Kelly is confident that each group will benefit from the fee increase.

“Money’s not the issue here. Everybody’s going to have what they need,” Kelly said.

Kelly said that he and SGB member Todd Brandon Morris, who both met with Harrigan to discuss the distribution last week, understood Daniel’s decision.

“They’re not taking our recommendations as to change the percentage, because they don’t want to go back to the old system, where those percentages are set in stone for years and years,” Kelly said.

With an unchanging system, Kelly added, some groups “may not utilize all that money” in some years.

Instead of limiting SGB’s options, the decision may expand them, he explained.

“If we want to go ahead with our recommendation, we could do it,” Kelly added.

While Harrigan suggested that the board would put the new funds into the regular allocations pot, Kelly indicated that the money might go to a separate fund for the groups that receive a set portion of the activities fee. Groups like PPC will still receive some of the fee increase, Kelly said, but instead of receiving the money directly, the group wills receive it through SGB.

But for Odett, this could still create problems. She will have to compete with other groups to receive money, and she may have no guarantee that the financial support she needs to plan on will be there for her.

Kelly said he hoped to begin meeting in July with Harrigan, SGB Adviser Joyce Giangarlo, SGB Budget Adviser Terry Milani and Assistant to the Dean Michele Scott Taylor to determine the process through which SGB will allocate the new funds. Kelly said he would like to see the distribution evaluated yearly, allowing the board to adjust for groups’ changing needs and to create “more accurate numbers-keeping.”

The process will also keep SGB aware of how all groups are spending the student activities fee, and not just those that have traditionally applied for funds through SGB’s allocations committee. At the same time, Kelly said, the new distribution will let the groups give more input in the distribution decisions.

Like Harrigan, Kelly was positive about SGB’s ability to handle the money.

“We’re up for it,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Kelly nevertheless acknowledged that the decisions of the next year would require a good deal of work and transition. Adding to the difficulty will be the changing of board members in January, following the November student government elections.

“That’s going to be difficult for the next board, depending on who runs again,” Kelly said, pointing out that, often, at least one board member runs for reelection.