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| SERVING THE ON-LINE RPI COMMUNITY SINCE 1994 |
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| Current Issue: |
Volume 130, Number 1 |
July 14, 2009 |
Ed/Op
Derby
2005-2006 Union budget is finished
Posted 01-26-2005 at 5:39PM
Peter Baldwin
President of the Union
The Executive Board completed budgeting this past weekend for the 2005-2006 school year. The process was marked with several themes in addition to the guidelines of the Rensselaer Union Budgeting Policies and Procedures. There are over one hundred Union-funded clubs and organizations, and, as always, we remained as consistent and equitable as possible. The E-Board was instructed to keep the purpose of the Rensselaer Union in mind as stated in the Union constitution, “to unite all its members in a commitment to the ideals for which Rensselaer stands, to expand extracurricular life at Rensselaer, to coordinate all student organizations, to act as a medium through which student opinion is expressed, encouraging initiatives, and to lead student action in all interests which better serve the welfare and the betterment of Rensselaer.” The budgeting process is the most direct fulfillment of our purpose and aligns clubs in a singular direction as though acted upon by a magnetic field. If there is one thing that resonates throughout the Student Union, it is that we are Rensselaer. We are diverse, committed, driven, and share a passion for the ideals for which Rensselaer stands.
This year, a strong emphasis was put on the level of contribution a program or activity made to the Rensselaer campus. Self serving activities did not fare well, while any event enhancing a sense of community was set as a priority. As with any purpose or mission utilizing resources, we had to remain fiscally responsible throughout the process. We are bound by the number of activity fee paying students on campus in the upcoming year. We used a fairly conservative prediction, which meant that even though an activity may have been the quintessential fulfillment of the spirit of the Union, it may have been denied due to the fact that we had a responsibility to maximize the utility of the student population’s activity fee dollars.
In order to accomplish this, E-Board members used a number of resources to make more objective decisions, including the approved budget for this fiscal year, a comparison of the last five years of approved expenditures, income and subsidy for each club, the actual performance of each club for fiscal years 2003 and 2004, and the current membership numbers. The E-Board recognizes the fact that even with all of the statistics and tools available, the best resource is the personal relationships that E-Board members have with their clubs. There is no formula that can be simply applied, or individual numbers that can be predetermined for a club. Each year offers new challenges and opportunities, and as a student-directed Union, we recognize that these may be best conveyed for students, by students. | |
Posted 01-26-2005 at 5:39PM | |
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