By Robin Gracia / Managing Editor and Steven Barker/ News Editor
In less than six months, ASI has spent the yearly allotment of $30,097 in student fee money allocated for CSUB club funding. While the figure appears to be a large sum, it dwindled quickly under the onslaught of requests for money from various campus organizations, prompting the Finance Committee and ASI to unanimously approve an additional $15,000 for clubs from the General Fund. According to the Vice President of Finance Kamalneel Singh, the need for these funds is a very good thing.
“Last winter quarter, we only approved two events,” said Singh. “This winter quarter, we approved twelve events. There has been an increase in clubs asking for funds.”
With eight pending applications still in need of review and with funds scraping the bottom of the barrel, Singh said that she and the ASI board agreed on the extra $15,000 rather than turn clubs away.
“The Finance Committee gave a recommendation to the board based off of previous events and anticipated future events, since there’s Greek Week still coming up,” said Mike Kwon, the executive vice president of ASI. “So [Singh], as well as her committee, thought it was necessary to get that number.”
Requesting funding from ASI is as simple as filling out a funding application. According to Kwon, on the club funding application, clubs must list the anticipated costs of things such as entertainment and food and attach invoices. The paperwork then makes its way to the Finance Committee, where each line item is either verified or amended. For example, a club would likely have a line item of $100 for silverware and plates amended. Those items could be purchased much cheaper at a dollar store.
There are, however, things that the Finance Committee does not allow funds to be used for, said Singh. ASI does not fund a club’s prizes or awards – that is entirely up to the club to fund.
While clubs hosting events is a way to make campus life more engaging, some individuals may contend that giving money to organizations for one-time and poorly attended events is a waste. According to ASI President Derek Stotler, he has heard both sides to this argument.
Stotler said that while some events are not long lasting ones, the ASI board took a vote and decided to fund one-time club events. Student opinions were mixed regarding funding club events which leave no lasting legacy or impression.
“The fees I pay seem to get higher every year, and I swear to God I don’t know why,” said Nicole Mendoza, 23. “There’s this fee and that fee and for what? I don’t even go to half the stuff that goes on here because I have class or I work. It’s not even stuff I would want to go to.”
Mendoza went on to say she would like to see more music on campus or comedians, like at other campuses, but she is “thoroughly unimpressed” with here-today-gone-tomorrow events.
Fellow student Matt Pimento disagrees with Mendoza’s sentiments, finding ASI’s readiness to assist clubs with events to be good for campus as a whole.
“I went to Riverside for a year before moving to Bakersfield,” said Pimento, 26, “and they always had something going on. Campus was real active because people actually went to stuff the clubs put on, and they didn’t act like they were too busy or too good to go. It was how I got to know a lot of different people and made friends, but here, it’s like, the total opposite. I’m all for clubs doing stuff.”
With $15,000 being allocated toward more campus events, clubs are being showcased as they never have before. This, according to Singh, is exciting.
“I’ve worked with a lot of clubs and you’d be amazed to see their passion for putting on these events…seeing all of the students benefit from it is an amazing feeling.”
