When Amit Agarwal requests $3,000 for the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students’ Satrang on Tuesday night, he might walk away without the amount of money he had hoped for.
Agarwal, the coalition’s president, will begin searching for donations somewhere else for the show to go on.
The Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students, which is the second group in line for funding consideration at ASMSU Funding Board’s Tuesday interviews, is banking on $3,000 for Satrang, an Indian cultural show.
If four organizations are given money Tuesday night, then the undergraduate student government board’s money likely will be spent.
Agarwal said the show’s total budget is $33,000.
Resident Halls Association gave $2,225 to the group.
“RHA and ASMSU are the cornerstones to a large percentage of our funding,” the political economy senior said.
Agarlwal said other places that donate money have cut funding in half for the annual show in which 200 people participate.
“Funding is going to be a problem because we will have to go further into the community to ask for money,” he said. “If it comes down to it, we will take money from our own pockets.”
Agarwal said he will be more disappointed than upset if the group is not awarded $3,000 for its possibly televised April 6 show at Wharton Center.
“They try to do the best they can, but in your mind you are always disappointed when you don’t get what you asked for and planned for,” he said.
Several other registered student organizations also are not likely to get the money they requested, causing them to look for funding alternatives.
James Cinglie, Funding Board comptroller, said he did “a little bit of creative financing” Wednesday night, and found an additional $130.91 to give to organizations, bringing the total to $4,630.91. Another $1,200 is available from the summer allocation fund if it’s needed, Cinglie said.
ASMSU’s 500 registered student organizations are paid by a first-come, first-served basis, and also under the criteria of an organization’s fund-raising efforts and general student benefit. Each group must submit an agenda showing how the money will be spent.
“We are going to do as much as we can to fund them something,” Cinglie said. “And as for the other groups - it sucks.”
The maximum number of four groups for Tuesday interviews are scheduled through April 1.
The board has to have a minimum of $3,000 available for each group it is scheduled to interview, but Cinglie said groups will be told that might not be possible.
Cinglie said it would be ideal if the board was given $96,000 per semester so the maximum number of 32 organizations could get a chance to receive a donation.
“I’m not going to ask for it because it wouldn’t happen,” he said. “Asking for $10,000 was hard, and asking for $96,000 is damn near impossible.”
ASMSU’s Student Assembly gave Funding Board an additional $6,000 on Feb. 13 after the board requested $10,000. The Funding Board receives 10 percent of the Special Projects budget each year, a percentage Cinglie would like to raise.
But Cinglie said all the money the assembly has access to for student organizations should be directly placed in an investment account for the Funding Board. In 1992, ASMSU ended the board’s investment account.
“It’s our main job to fund organizations,” Cinglie said. “We have guidelines for it.”
Bethany Weaver, president of Respecting and Understanding Body Images, said when the group bought 12,000 Twix bars in celebration of Eating Disorder Awareness Week next week, she wasn’t aware Funding Board was nearly out of money. She expected money from ASMSU to help.
“I guess I didn’t realize,” the dietetics junior said. “It makes me very worried, but we already spent money for Eating Disorder Awareness week.
“We will probably look into some fund-raisers, but Olin Health Center will support us until we can repay them.”
