Part of a forthcoming amendment to the Student Union Constitution will look to alleviate the challenge secured groups face in making large, one-time emergency purchases, according to Student Union President Jenny Feinberg '07. The amendment will also significantly cut the Student Union's funding, Feinberg said, though the specifics of that cut remain unclear.

The amendment, which Feinberg said consists of three parts and will be proposed to the Student Union Senate Sunday, will be the culmination of almost a year's worth of examination into reforming the club funding system, reform that has been one of the primary issues of Feinberg's administration.

Any amendment to the constitution requires a two-thirds approval of student voters.

The part of the amendment targeting large emergency purchases will call for two percent of the Finance Board's funding to be set aside each semester into a new "capital expenditures fund," Feinberg said. This fund would be capped at $100,000, and secured groups in need would go before the F-Board to request such funding, she said. Groups often in need of such funding include BEMCo and WBRS.

Nearly all student-run clubs at Brandeis are funded through the Student Activities Fee, a fee charged to every student and equal to one percent of tuition, or about $331 this year. The fund created by this fee, also commonly referred to as SAF, currently totals about $1 million. This money is distributed pursuant to the Student Union constitution, which stipulates eight secured groups to receive more than 60 percent of the total SAF, including the Justice, the Archon, WBRS, BTV, Waltham Group, BEMCo, the Student Union and Student Events. The F-board distributes the remaining money to more than 200 chartered clubs on a request-by-request basis.

The money that will be siphoned from the F-Board's funding each semester into the new capital expenditures fund will include increased funding for the F-Board, Feinberg said, which will be made available through other parts of the legislation on which Feinberg declined to elaborate. Though Feinberg acknowledged that some secured groups would see their funding cut if the amendment passes and that it is likely the only way to increase F-board funding, she declined to specify which groups should expect cuts.

"No [secured groups] will be shocked by their cuts in their budgets," Feinberg said. "The cuts we are looking to make are major pieces that are inefficient. We're looking for [this legislation] to reflect a strong increase in F-Board funding."

Union committees that investigated the SAF system last fall found that the most inefficient piece of secured groups' budgets is money set aside in case of an emergency, Feinberg said.

"[Secured] groups with major capital pieces have all been putting money aside," she said. "In the mean time, [unsecured] groups going to F-Board can't get things now, while secured groups are planning for the future."

Rather than have each individual secured group manage its own emergency fund, Feinberg said the proposed amendment will require the F-Board to set aside approximately two percent of its allocated funds each semester for the capital expenditures fund. Money from the fund will be granted by the F-Board only to secured groups with emergency needs.

While acknowledging the need for SAF reform, secured group leaders objected to the redistribution of their emergency funds.

In an e-mail to the Justice, WBRS General Manager Julie Craghead '07 said she felt SAF reform should be considered, but maintained that WBRS prides itself "on the fiscal responsibility we consistently demonstrate."

"It saddens us at WBRS to think that money may be taken away because [other] groups have not been fiscally responsible," she wrote. However, Craghead expressed confidence that Feinberg "has the interest of all groups in mind and will make sure that every group has what it needs."

BEMCo Director Elan Schefflein '06 said his organization's ability to pay its own emergency expenses "created a lot of room to get stuff done quicker." For example, he said, under the current system, he would only need to contact Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan if a BEMCo truck needed repairs.

"Now we'll have to explain our need to the F-Board, and the F-Board will have to see if it can be done cheaper," Schefflein said.

Feinberg said Schefflein's concerns are unfounded, citing Union bylaws that allow F-Board members to meet over the phone and the Internet to grant emergency money requests quickly.

The proposed amendment will also significantly cut the Student Union's budget, Feinberg said.

"We're [currently] given $80 to 90 thousand a year, but a huge chunk of that budget is going towards programming, and I don't believe the Student Union should be programming," she said.

Although she declined to provide specific numbers, Feinberg said the Union is "looking at a drastic cut in the . budget so that we're no longer able to plan events by ourselves."

She said the Union has planned events in the past due to a strong perceived need on campus. While she did not directly criticize Student Events-the campus programming board responsible for enhancing campus social life that receives almost one quarter of the total SAF-Feinberg expressed frustration that as Student Events currently operates, it programs a semester in advance.

"When we want to plan something like ModFest, it's already too late to request Student Events to consider it into their budget, because they already made plans," Feinberg said. "So, Student Union takes it on, and we've done it well."

She said that because Union-planned events, such as the Midnight Buffet and ModFest, are the best-attended and most successful, the Student Union should have a greater role in event planning.

While Feinberg said Student Events-hosted activities such as Louis-Louis Week and Bronstein Weekend are "planned beautifully and very well-organized," she said novelty events in the Boulevard, smaller comedians and concerts and Stein Nights "are not getting the turnout they deserve because [Student Events] does not include enough students in the planning."

"My goal is not to attack the structure of Students Events, but to enhance it," Feinberg said. "The fact that they receive one quarter of the SAF speaks very strongly to the necessity of student representation.