Campus organizations may be put through a more rigorous auditing process next fiscal year, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The Student Organization Finance Committee is working with the Office of Student Activities and Facilities to form a committee that will analyze individual student group budgets. The committee will be composed of representatives from both SOFC and OSAF and will meet at regular intervals beginning July, but the committee's size and meeting schedule is yet to be determined, OSAF Program Coordinator Ryan O'Connell wrote in an e-mail.
"The main goal is to elevate the knowledge base within the student organization community about how funds are allocated and what policies apply and why," he said.
The committee will randomly select student groups to audit and those groups will subsequently receive notification that their financial transactions will be reviewed for an amount of time that is yet to be determined by SOFC and OSAF. Groups that have violated funding or University policies in the past, however, will be automatically required to take part in the auditing process.
Following review, the auditing committee will meet with the respective student groups for consultation. If policy violations arise, the committee will make recommendations on how to resolve those issues.
"This process will bring a greater level of transparency and clarity to the allocation and appropriate use of student activity fees," O'Connell said.
SOFC operates on an annual budget of approximately $100,000 that comes from the student activities fee and that the group allocates to more than 100 campus organizations. Each student group applies for funding to be reviewed and approved by SOFC every year.
Currently, one member of SOFC serves as the auditing chair to assess groups' fiscal structures by attending events they hold throughout the year. The new system will allow SOFC to expand their auditing approach, giving it a better grasp of its funding allocations as well as improving communication with student groups, said SOFC Chair Sam Halls, a junior.
Through a referendum last September, Duke Student Government proposed increasing the student activity fee by $60 over two years to alleviate funding issues that arose as a result of the proliferation of campus groups. The referendum ultimately failed to pass, but it brought to light numerous questions regarding funding allocations.
"One of the things that emerged out of the referendum is that a legitimate conversation needs to take place to help student groups be more effective," Halls said. "Sooner is better than later because student groups will have a much better sense of who they are and they'll be more aware of the resources out there."
Also in efforts to partake in the conversation, Campus Council earlier this month agreed to hear funding proposals from student groups in conjunction with SOFC to avoid previous overlap in funding applications. The new measure was approved in efforts to maximize efficiency in both bodies' operations and to streamline communication between the two.
With this partnership, Halls said representatives from Campus Council's treasury may be invited to join the newly formed auditing committee once the group has been established.
"I think it's something that's an interesting possibility. It's not something we had discussed within CC, but not necessarily something we wouldn't be interested in doing," said Campus Council President Molly Bierman, a senior. "I think oversight is a good thing."
Student organizations, in turn, can gain from the process by learning about the resources available to them from OSAF, Halls noted.
"Saying funding on campus can be perfect-it can't be," he said. "You'll see funding hopefully improve even by sort of moving toward something you can capitalize on."
Within a university, funding allocation not only offers students a self-governing experience, but also teaches fiscal responsibility through real-world situations, O'Connell said. He added that the revised auditing model will achieve both goals while still providing student groups with autonomy and flexibility.
"It also allows for an opportunity to connect with student organizations on a regular basis about what types of events and activities that they are planning in order to offer support and resources," O'Connell said. "Student organizations at Duke have access to considerable funds. This process will simply allow for a higher level than the current good standards into the expenditure of student fees."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.