Band, Choir in murky waters post-budget recommendation

While Senate unanimously approved AFB’s recommended $103,079.98 for 2019-2020 club budgets, Band and Choir have yet to reach a recommendation agreement, leaving the clubs in limbo regarding their budgets.

The conflict comes in the wake of talks over NSCS Board Policy 4050, which states, “Academic and professional organizations shall not receive funding from student activity fees and shall not maintain separate accounts. All funding in support of an academic and professional organization shall be accounted for within the College’s regular operating budget.” Because both Band and Choir require participants to enroll in classes, even if they are for no credit, and because community and non-majors can participate too, a debate has been sparked whether the clubs are student or academic organizations. According to Vice President of Enrollment, Marketing and Student Services and adviser Jon Hansen, the question is not whether the clubs are recognized organizations but whether AFB wishes to fund them accordingly.

“You have to consider that they have a constitution, they went through the CAB process to become a student org(anization), and I signed off on that. They have officers, they have all their stuff. The real thing you have to decide is whether or not you want to fund what they’re asking for,” Hansen said. 

The budget requests, which total $4,360 for Band and $2,150 for Choir, will cover sheet music costs. Though the resolution is unclear at this point, Hansen remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached.

“I think we can work this out. I don’t think it has to be ‘No, we’re not doing anything,’ but instead resolving what the relationship is and saying to the student organization ‘Okay, we recognize you’re a student organization, but it (money) is for this,” Hansen said.

Vice Chair of Finance Lily Umeta, sophomore of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, clarified that the lack of budget numbers doesn’t mean zero funding for the clubs.

“We’re still discussing this with the deans, so we’re not saying ‘No, we’re not funding anything.’ We just want to discuss and get more information, because people in the music department are also students, so we need to support them,” Umeta said. “We’re just trying to look at different ways to understand their point of view.”

Chief Justice Samantha Merrill, senior of Oral, South Dakota, announced that Senate elections are open through tomorrow at noon. Ballots have been sent via email, but if questions arise contact Merrill. Because of the time constraints of the Court regarding candidacy checks, candidates may have to wait to be sworn in.

“They (candidates) won’t be sworn in until we make sure all of their qualifications are met,” Merrill said. “They’ll still run, elections will still happen, but they just won’t get sworn in until after we make sure that they meet everything they need to meet.”

Senators continued the conversation on concert planning, discussing polling techniques to find out what students’ top picks are. Senator Cody Cooper, graduate student of Gothenburg, recommended using a ranking system to rein in student opinions and finalize a list.

“I think that we should try to get some sort of a ranking as far as who we want, a preferential list,” Cooper said.

Potential options include country, hip hop and pop artists, but senators have decided on a spring date with the Chicoine Center as a venue. Students can vote on their genre of choice in the election ballots.

Senate unanimously approved $400 toward prizes for the Student Appreciation BBQ and dance on April 26.

Senate currently has $7,431.91 in unallocated funds.