The current fiscal year has had serious consequences on the budget at Fairfield University, resulting in financial aid cuts, a loss of campus resources, and the firings of 31 university staff and faculty members.
While the money saved as a result of these cuts was allocated to a variety of areas, students became alarmed upon hearing that a significant portion of the money was given to FUSA, the Fairfield University Student Association. In fact, FUSA received almost $300,000 this year – more funding than in previous years.
In a press release from June 2009, President Jeffrey von Arx, S.J. told the university community, “It will be a difficult time for all of us as we will be asked to do more with less, but these budget reductions are essential given the extraordinary economic times in which we find ourselves.”
In light of such budgetary concerns, many students questioned the sudden increase in funding for a single organization on campus. This increase was due to an overall rise in tuition fees – specifically, an increase in the student activities fee from $85 to $95 per student. With an expected 3,125 students each paying this fee, FUSA received a substantial amount of funding with which to design programs and events for the semester.
David Axelrod, the Secretary of the Treasury of FUSA, explained in an interview the process behind the creation of the FUSA budget and the importance of communication among university community members.
“The total budget for FUSA is divided among the various branches of the association,” he said. “The numbers are all based on the budgets and how the budgets were used from previous years – that’s how we determine if the FUSA branches need more or less money [than previous years].” After a series of editing, redrafting, and approval, the budget is finally approved after about a month of work, says Axelrod.
“The budget isn’t just made,” he reminded university members. “It’s made, revised, approved by student senate, checked again, and finally approved by higher administrators.”
Axelrod noted that the increase in FUSA funding was necessary in order to improve the quality of the student activities offered on campus. Rather than having many individual events, FUSA is working to combine smaller activities into larger, more entertaining events in an effort to make student activities “bigger, better and more exciting.”
“Everything we do attracts a different audience,” Axelrod said. “At one event, if we hold 3 activities…each of those activities is going to attract different people,” which will make the events even more popular, he said.
“We’ve had awesome attendance at all of our events [so far this year],” Axelrod noted. “The last Late Night at the Stag had over 500 people there.”
Now the question becomes whether the allocation of such funds to FUSA was rightfully done – should the money have been put towards other uses, such as scholarships or staff employment? Although areas of university life have suffered as a result of budget cuts across campus, attendance and enthusiasm has increased at many events, as a result of the added perks financed by the additional funds. The increase in school spirit and student involvement is a goal of the budget committee and they maintain student programming as a large focus of their negotiations, said Axelrod.
But do students feel it is a good use of university funds? After all, FUSA is responsible for planning activities that students are excited to attend.
Although they were not consulted directly over the budget concerns, students are torn over proper allocation for the funding. While some agree with its distribution, others believe it would be better spent in other areas of the university.
Alexandra Foreman, a sophomore at Fairfield, appreciates FUSA and the organization’s efforts to promote activities on campus, but also understands the need for funding in other realms of campus.
“I think they should keep some of the money with FUSA, but not necessarily all of it,” she said. “Some people go to the events and enjoy them, but other students ignore them, which is one strong reason the money should go to other things.”
“I have been to very few FUSA-sponsored events, and I personally would much rather see it go to something that would be more practical, like small scholarships or books for students,” said sophomore Rachael Purri.
Courtney Monaghan, another sophomore, has similar ideas. She does not believe that the turnout is as outstanding as Axelrod said it has been.
“I believe the money possibly should be allocated elsewhere, or that they should put the money towards programming that people are actually going to go to,” she said. “Maybe if they did a campus wide survey and asked students what events they would attend they would get better turnout at their events and spending would be worthwhile.”
While budget negotiations are contentious at any school in any given fiscal year, the 2009-2010 academic year has been exceptionally challenging. But were the budget committee’s financial distribution decisions successful? It is not necessarily definitive at this point in the beginning of the school year, but will quickly become evident as the year continues.
Sophomore Erika Gjestby provided a unique perspective on the situation.
“I think that FUSA events are good and we definitely should put enough money into them to make them worthwhile,” she said. “But we also need to be able to share the money as much as possible among different areas of campus life and program funding, particularly in the economic times that we’re facing,” she added. Poignantly noting a crucial element of the budget decisions that others may have simply overlooked, she said, “If students can’t even afford to come here, they wouldn’t be here for the programs anyway – you can’t have programs if you don’t even have students.”
It would appear that students themselves would be important individuals to consult in this situation, yet only two student representatives speak for the more than 3,000 undergraduate students at Fairfield. This is the first time the budget committee had two student representatives – last year, there was only one. However, Axelrod mentioned that a significant goal for both himself and for the larger budget committee this year is “open communication.”
The budget committee was expanded this year to include other university community members, such as graduate students and faculty members from various departments.
“They want to be able to better communicate what’s going on,” Axelrod explained. “Having more people from various departments with different perspectives…allows them to better communicate out what the committee is talking about.”
Axelrod welcomes comments about the FUSA budget.
“If you have an idea, if you feel that there’s something you need people to hear about, let me know,” Axelrod said, encouraging students to e-mail or call him, or even stop by the office to discuss concerns. “I’m wide open to opinions, everything can always be better – nothing’s ever perfect.”
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