Low Dough for SA Sports Clubs

If the Student Association is the vehicle that drives the student body, then money has to be the fuel. According to some sports clubs, the tank is on empty.

SA allocated nearly $200,000 to the 30 Sports Clubs at UB this year. But some of the clubs debate whether SA knows how to distribute this large sum of money.

A number of sports clubs are struggling to maintain operation because of their small budgets. At the same time, those clubs may be the ones to blame for the financial issues.

SA President JoAnna Datz stated that clubs receive their money based on whether or not they're in compliance with the "2-2-2-2 plan."

The plan requires two community service events, two accounts of participation in SA-sanctioned events, two club events, and two general body meetings. In addition, the clubs themselves must raise 50 percent of total monies through fundraisers. If the club exceeds these requirements, it is eligible for a raise.

A representative of the Kendo Club, who chose to remain anonymous, claims that it met all of the requirements but still got a budget cut. As a result, the club was left with $800 at its disposal for the whole year.

According to the Kendo Club representative, the club put in a request to review the budget earlier this year. However, the request was completely ignored when the new SA board came into office, leaving the Kendo Club without extra aid, according to the representative.

"There was nothing we could do," the representative said. "I asked SA and they said they're not in charge of [the 2011-12] club budget. I asked who is in charge of that and they said the senate is. I asked if I can go to the senate and they said yeah, but they're not going to give you any money."

SA has a different take on the situation.

Datz said that the Kendo club didn't meet the necessary requirements. When she called for a meeting with the club's executive board, she only saw one member of the e-board show up and Datz wasn't satisfed with his answers.

"I asked what community service did you do," Datz said. "They said ‘Well, I think we did [one].' Then I asked what else did you do, and that was it."

The Kendo Club representative said that there was no such meeting and they indeed met the requirements.

"We raised twice our budget," the representative said. "We also had two events for community service, and on top of that we had an extra two [events] for SA."

The Kendo Club has the fourth lowest budget of any club on the sports council. The club still has to contend with its low budget regardless, of its communication issues with SA.

The Men's Hockey Club is in good favor with SA, but still has money issues. The expenses of equipment maintenance, ice time at the Northtown Center, and travel fees force the club to spend $80,000-90,000 a year. As a result, each of the club's 28 members is forced to pay $1,300 to help finance these costs.

The team has garnered national acclaim over the past year. It was second in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, and ranked as one of the top 25 hockey club teams in the nation.

Gregory Reed, treasurer of the Men's Hockey Club, was highly critical of SA's monetary decisions. He argues that his club should be getting a higher budget for two reasons: the cost of running the club and its recent success.

"I just feel that [the men's rugby and lacrosse clubs] get favored more," Reed said. "They already have a field to play on when we have to pay for our ice time."

True Blue is not a member of the sports council, but it still faces some of the same problems. Its $7,600 budget forces the student fan section to lean on UB Athletics for travel expenses, advertisements, and help with True Blue Avenue.

Kelsey Burglund, True Blue's president, doesn't like the fact that her club has to rely on alternative sources of income, but she feels there is no other choice because of the small amount of funds that are available through SA.

"We get looked down on a lot, because we lean on [UB Athletics]," Burglund said. "We want to lean on SA, because it is kind of like our mom. But then we don't get a very large budget, so we have to lean on UB Athletics."

Burglund stated that if SA were to increase True Blue's budget to around $20,000, it would be able to throw more events and sell more merchandise.

Datz is appreciative of the SA clubs' efforts, but she reasoned that the monetary decisions are up to the senate.

"When the senate is giving out money in large increments, the budget of the SA becomes disproportioned," Datz said. "If the senate chooses to reallocate the budget in a way that takes away from the [SA Entertainment] budget, that's fine if it's what the senate chooses."

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com