With nearly a $600,000 annual budget and 12 subcommittees, the Duke University Union lends a hand to some of the most popular events on campus, including Springternational, weekend movies in the Bryan Center and last year's sold-out Cameron Rocks! concert.
This year, however, some students are questioning how the organization distributes its funds, noting that some expensive outlays may not be worth their cost.
Every undergraduate pays $86 per year for Union programming as part of the student activity fee, and each graduate student contributes $10.50.
The Union's 2006-2007 budget includes a more-than-$20,000 raise for Cable 13, putting the campus television station's total budget at 60,000. The budget also includes a $10,000 bonus to Broadway at Duke, leaving that committee's total budget at $70,000.
Other expenditures include more than $23,000 for "publicity," $12,006 for the BC Blizzard party and $12,500 set aside for "leadership," which last year involved sending a Union committee chair to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for $5,000.
"We want to create more opportunities for students-that's the goal," said Union President Alex Apple, a senior.
Cameron show controversy
Each year the Union receives an automatic 4-percent increase in funding, which amounted to $30,000 this year, but not all the committees have had their budgets inflated.
Major Attractions, which put on the Cameron Rocks! concert with Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie last April, received $20,000 less than last year, said committee chair Hanna Mahuta, a junior and a Chronicle staff member.
"The show was by any definition a complete and total success," Mahuta said.
Although the concert generated the highest level of revenue for any single non-sporting event sponsored by Duke, Mahuta said that with the current budget she would not be able to replicate last year's show without dramatically increasing ticket prices.
"Because the Union budget is subsidized by the student activity fee, the feeling is that students are already paying for this programming," she said.
"I would start to question what exactly my money is getting me," Mahuta added.
Last year, Major Attractions was fortunate to sign both bands right before their appeal skyrocketed along with their contract fees, Mahuta said.
"You can't always hope that you're going to get lucky by booking a relatively obscure band and hoping they get big by the time they arrive," she explained.
For example, bands like O.A.R. or Snow Patrol could cost up to $150,000 to attract for one show, and the Union only gave Major Attractions approximately $80,000 for all three of its shows this year, she said.
Mahuta added she does not agree with Union executives who are pushing for several smaller shows instead of one in Cameron.
Junior Katelyn Donnelly, the Union's chief financial officer, said Major Attractions' budget last year was given the additional $20,000 only after the Cameron bands were found, and the same rule applies now. "I just don't think [Mahuta] is understanding," Donnelly said. "We meet twice a week, it happens quickly.... We can give her that money."
Notable expenditures
Some Union committees are less visible than Major Attractions, which attracted 2,500 students to the Cameron show.
Freewater Presentations, which sponsors weekend movies in the Bryan Center, flew its chair to Sundance this year as part of the Union's $12,500 "development" budget.
Donnelly said the student was exposed to less-known films that could appeal to the Duke community.
"We have a clear understanding that it's a lot of money," Donnelly said. "But that's an opportunity most students will never have... it's important for someone's professional development."
A different committee, Freewater Productions, was given $19,749 last year to support ten student-produced movies, which computes to nearly $2,000 per film.
"Freewater Productions lost money, their inventory was a mess," Donnelly said.
Apple said he did not know how many people attended the end-of-the-year screening of the films, although he noted that he made one movie himself.
Attendance figures are available, however, for Broadway at Duke, which received an extra $10,000 this year for its four shows.
For the committee's 2005-2006 season-which received $59,757 in student activity fees-there were 36 student subscribers, which amounts to approximately $1,600 per student.
An additional 81 student tickets were sold for "The HMS Pinafore" in February and 31 were sold for "Mame" in March, according to numbers provided by the Union.
"In the past it's been unfortunate," Apple said, referring to the attendance.
Duke Student Government President Elliott Wolf, a junior, told The Chronicle last week that he is concerned about the amount of student money going to a committee which benefits relatively few students.
"I'm not opposed to having Broadway productions at Duke, but I'm opposed to throwing that much money in it," he said.
Donnelly maintained that success should not be measured solely by attendance.
The extra funding this year helped attract "CATS" and serves a campus need, said senior Alex Oliveira, the Union's vice president of programming. "We're a place of entertainment for independents and people who tend to be in the arts or independent social scene," Oliveira added.
Apple said that the Union's funding of the East Campus Coffeehouse is another example of appealing to unaffiliated students.
The Union allotted a $38,000 subsidy to the Coffeehouse this year even though the restaurant only projects $10,000 in total sales. "The Coffeehouse has an enormous history," Apple said. "We use student activity fee money to give them more opportunities."
Overall, Donnelly said her organization does its best. "We're students and we do make mistakes," she said. "Sometimes people forget that."
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