Presenting a report to the first Duke Student Government general body meeting in three weeks, a task force examining student group funding issued several recommendations to improve the process for obtaining finances Wednesday evening.
As a subcommittee of DSG, the Student Funding Task Force was created last fall to review the financing process for student groups and develop recommendations for improvement.
Sophomore Philip Kurian, chair of the task force, presented the results Wednesday night. Among the weaknesses in the current funding system, the task force identified a lack of adequate advising for student groups; poor communication in the system - specifically a disconnect between the Event Advising Center and the Office of Student Activities and a weak dispersal of information; fiscal limitations on the Student Organization Finance Committee; lack of expertise in the SOFC; and high infrastructure expenditures.
"The EAC is disconnected from OSA. Not only that, but it's understaffed," Kurian said.
Among its 13 recommendations to remedy those problems, the task force has suggested merging OSA and the EAC into one office; adopting a "cluster" system of advising where multiple groups could be assigned to a professional adviser according to interest; creating a comprehensive student-friendly funding website under OSA; and transferring "infrastructural" costs - such as technical services, housekeeping, websites and computer support - from the student activities fee to the Division of Student Affairs.
Also, the task force recommended having representatives from OSA and the SOFC sit on the University Fund and Cultural Fund committees and appointing an unaffiliated OSA staff member to sit on the SOFC as an ex-officio member for increased administrative support
"The SOFC chair is perennially overworked... and the OSA chair has information that the SOFC could use," Kurian said. "When people come with a request for $30,000 and the SOFC can only provide $2,000... how do we know where that money is being spent?" he asked, adding that improved communication between OSA and the SOFC would answer such questions.
Other recommendations included having the SOFC fund student groups whose activities involve travel - such as Mock Trial or Model U.N. - "for their travel expenses, and reexamining the large amount of funding that The Chanticleer receives from the SOFC.
Kurian added that the task force was also strongly against the merging of the SOFC and the University and Cultural funds into one funding source for student groups.
Legislators approved an SOFC bylaw amendment, presented by Troy Clair, vice president for student affairs, that outlines more specific requirements for student groups to receive a DSG charter or recognition. Those changes include gathering more information from student groups before they approach DSG, requiring 10 signatures to demonstrate an existing interest in the proposed organization and having an adviser sign a form agreeing to a specific role determined by the adviser and the students.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: Earlier in the meeting, DSG President Joshua Jean-Baptiste, a senior, spoke on DSG's progress over the year. He encouraged members to attend a meeting Friday, March 21, at the DSG office to discuss a new structure for the organization.
Legislators voted to support a resolution, presented by sophomore Avery Capone, requesting five parking spaces for students outside the Student Health Center.
The Legislature also approved sophomore Ryan Kennedy's resolution recommending that Parking and Transportation Services begin notifying registered parkers on campus by e-mail after they receive tickets.
DSG also voted to recognize three new student groups: College Town, the Chabad Student Group and Blitz Build at Duke.
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