There is currently no available funding allotted for Geneseo Late Knight activities for the remainder of the semester, according to Director of College Union and Activities Charles Matthews. This is due, not to loss in funding, but rather to total depletion of the money allocated for events.
Matthews said this is a positive consequence of student organizations increasingly wanting to program events.
“We have had more requests from student organizations than there are funds set aside for them,” Matthews said. “Everyone pays a mandatory student activity fee, which is reflected in the programs that students want to put on. The fact that the money is being used is a good thing, you are getting your money back.”
According to Matthews, there are also drawbacks of the depletion of GLK funds.
“We still have half of March and all of April to host events,” he said. “This means there will be some student groups who potentially won’t be able to do an event they would want to until next semester.” Matthews said GLK events are distinct from similar programs at other universities.
“The success of Late Knight is driven by the fact that students do the majority of programming. Geneseo is unique because we started the grant program which has really allowed students to take the money and do what they want with it for events,” he said.
According to Matthews, the two sources of money that can be accessed for grants are Student Association and state-funded money. Although both sources fund GLK, student organizations only have the option of applying for grants through SA. Events hosted by the university, however, can receive grants through the state which have certain regulations placed on them.
According to the Assistant Director of College Union and Activities Lauren Dougherty, there was no appeal made to SA for more funding this semester.
“Student Association allowed us a certain budget and we felt it was important to stay within that budget. If student organizations needed money to put on an event, they have the option of going to Student Association and asking for it directly,” she said.
Matthews said that administration would also make a collaborative effort with student requests for activities so that grants can be obtained through state funding.
According to Dougherty, GLK did ask for an increase in the 2013-2014 academic year budget.
“There is an increase in students attending the events and to account for this growth, we will need additional funding,” she said.
“This has never happened before. It is an opportunity for us to reflect and look at ways to increase funding,” Matthews said. “We want to continue doing a lot of events on the weekends, but we need to have funds to keep it at that level and go beyond.”
“There will be no weekends without events,” Matthews said. “Clearly things will be scaled down, but everything booked already will not be changed.”
He also said that the depleted funds will not affect the quality of the programs.
“We are being fiscally responsible by not adding more when we do not have the money for it,” Matthews said.