The DSG legislature overruled the Student Organizations Finance Committee's decision Wednesday night to deny funding to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for a concert.
The FCA ultimately received $1,312 for the Christian rock concert, scheduled for Oct. 28. This amount is more than 10 percent of the allotted $13,000 programming budget for each semester.
The SOFC originally denied the group funding due to the fact that the concert would feature only Christian music. While considering whether or not to fund the concert, the SOFC formulated a policy for allocating concert programming funds. This policy states that an emphasis must be placed on the diversity of the University community, said Trinity junior and SOFC chairman Husein Cumber. FCA did not show an attempt to reach more than one group, he said.
"The only groups that FCA had cited [during the SOFC review on Saturday] were 15 Christian organizations," Cumber said. "Unfortunately, with limited funds, we do not have the opportunity to have every little group speak throughout the semester, so the events we must consider are ones that promote community unity."
Some legislators defended FCA's proposal, citing the group's openness as a commitment to diversity. "The FCA is encouraging diversity just by the fact that this is not closed off," Trinity freshman and DSG legislator Ti-Ying Lee said. "[FCA is] inviting everyone. It is offering a chance for other people, who haven't heard Christian music, to maybe see if they like it. Music is music no matter what kind it is."
Trinity junior Christina Ponig, an FCA member, also defended the organization's right to funding for the concert.
"Bringing a Christian band to Duke in no way reflects a bid for cultural superiority, [FCA does] not seek to convert the campus," she said. "We do not seek to impose our beliefs, but we do seek to make our distinctive contribution to a truly multicultural Duke."
Ponig said that she has approached non-Christian groups about the concert, including the athletic department and the Quad Councils. Few Quad has contributed funds for the concert.
The SOFC's decision to deny funding prompted an expansion of the concert's target audience, Cumber said. "I think that the presentation at the legislative meeting was different than the one [at Saturday's SOFC meeting]. Our ruling was [based on] what we received on Saturday," he said. "The bottom line is that our recommendation served as the impetus for them to look at other [non-Christian] organizations."
Some DSG members, however, warned that allocating these funds set a bad precedent.
"Other non-secular groups will have the right to approach DSG for programming funds," Trinity sophomore and DSG legislator Dan Segal said. "By funding the FCA, it is just showing that DSG will fund a function that only one sector of the Duke is interested in attending."
In other business: The legislature chartered the Earning by Learning organization. This organization, founded by Trinity Junior Brian Lindman, sends students to local elementary schools in a program that rewards students monetarily for each book they read.
"It is a program that endeavors to get children to get excited about reading. Monetary rewards turn their heads," Lindman said.
Objections were raised about funding a charitable organization that pays kids to read.
"If DSG gets into giving this charity money, what's to stop from giving to another charity?" said Trinity sophomore and DSG legislator Blair Greber-Raines.
Lindman was granted the charter, but if his organization seeks funding from DSG, the purpose of the funding must be approved by the SOFC.
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