Marquette Student Government unanimously passed legislation Thursday night that allocated about $37,000 for student organization funding for the 2013-14 budget year.
The Student Organization Funding Committee granted the majority of the approved funds to club sports, which totaled $32,000 or about 87 percent of the legislation. The rest of the funding was granted to non-club sports organizations.
The SOF Committee received a total of 16 requests totaling about $68,000 from organizations before drafting the legislation. About 54 percent of all funding requested by student organizations was allocated.
Financial Vice President Cole Johnson, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said in an email that the applications for funding are reviewed extensively, as allocations are restricted by MUSG’s constitution.
“Ultimately, the committee prioritizes their allocation of funds based upon the uses students have indicated they prefer for their student activity fee dollars,” Johnson said. “This is not an easy process, and our committee generally spends several hours meeting following each funding period deadline.”
Club Ice Hockey was granted $9,945, making up the largest allocation at 27 percent of all funds passed by MUSG in this legislation.
As required for all allocations greater than $2,500, the SOF Committee provided rationale for the funds to ice hockey, saying, “Club Hockey is the second most attended event next to Men’s Basketball, along with their exceptionally detailed application, we felt they deserved this allocation.”
Other large allocations were granted to Club Rowing (about $6,340), the Waterski and Wakeboard Team (about $2,745), and Students for an Environmentally Active Campus ($3,650), which was the only non-club sport organization to receive a substantial amount from the committee.
Johnson said for club sports, priority is given to organizations that will use their grants for on-campus purposes. Of all the funds allocated in by the SOF Committee, about $3,084, or about 8 percent of the legislation, was provided for on-campus events.