The Department of Athletics last week released a draft proposal to reform club sports funding, after the administration and the Student Union withheld the document for six months.The proposal, which Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa stressed was only a draft and had not been officially submitted to the Union, would place club sports almost completely under the control of Athletics, something the Union objected to when it turned down the proposal in May.

Club sports, in which hundreds of students participate, are widely considered to be under-funded. This led the Union, whose Finance Board currently funds club sports, to ask for $55,000 of Athletics funding, a proposal the administration declared unfeasible, amid sweeping reforms of the club funding system last semester. Union officials said they rejected the administration's draft proposal because it would give Athletics too much control over club sports.

"I want the oversight of club sports because we can do it right," Sousa said Friday. "If we're heavily involved, I want to be in charge. I want this to be a cooperative effort, but I want it to be ours."

Sousa said the club sports funding model she proposed is more reflective of how club sports are funded at Brandeis' peer institutions.

The proposal, which centers on a belief that there are too many club sports teams, all lacking sufficient professional guidance, would, most notably, add another full-time employee to Athletics' payroll, who would be responsible for administration of club sports on campus. It includes specifications for a Club Sports Council, a body of student-elected members who would distribute club sports funding, but specifies that all council decisions would be subject to the Athletics Director's approval.

The proposal outlines a system similar to those in place at Washington University in St. Louis, Emory University and the University of Rochester, among others.

Sousa, who acknowledged that negotiations broke down over financial disputes, stressed that when drafting the proposal, her staff did not consider sources of funding, but rather, only tried to determine the best system for funding club sports, "price tag regardless." It is still unclear where the money would come from.

Adam Gartner '07, the Union's director of executive affairs, declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal, reiterating the Union's belief that money from the Student Activities Fee-which funds campus clubs-should only be controlled by students.

"I really don't want to get wrapped up in the SAF debate," Sousa said. "I just see an opportunity to do something better than we're doing it now."

The draft estimates the annual budget of the proposed club sports system to be $256,000. The operations budget, making up $150,000 of the projected total, is based on the cost of funding 20 club sports mentioned in the proposal.

Other costs in the budget include salary for the Club Sports Coordinator, renting a fleet of passenger vans for transporting club sport athletes and increased facilities and employment costs.

20 club sports are identified as falling under the Athletics umbrella in the proposal, leaving more than 20 otherclubs currently receiving Union funding off the list. The proposal stipulated support only for NCAA-recognized club sports not offered on the varsity level, with exceptions being made for Ultimate Frisbee, Men's Rugby and seven martial arts clubs currently chartered on campus.

Sousa said those clubs left out of the proposed model, such as skydiving and paintball, "don't need the kind of service that the more competitive clubs do." It remained unclear what such clubs would do for funding under the proposal.

Not every club sports team claimed to be in dire need of the increased supervision the proposed model would provide. Sarah Robinson '07, the president of the Crew Club, said her team has an inventory process to effectively regulate their spending, and the team members receive the training and certification required for proper risk management.

While official negotiations have not yet resumed between Athletics and the Union, several club sports leaders were largely unaware the department's draft had been written, including Robinson and Ice Hockey Co-President Alex Botwick '08.

Botwick said he was impressed with the financial aspect of the Athletics Department's proposal because it provides more money for the fewer number of clubs that will receive secured funding. Currently, his hockey club can practice only once per season because of high rental costs for a rink, but he said the extra money would help them pay for more time on the ice.

The increased support from Athletics would be a welcome change, Botwick said, but he does not want to see students completely cut off from the decision-making process. "It would be a shame for students to lose that responsibility," he said.

Club sports participants will have a voice in the proposed system: Six student representatives to the Club Sports Council would be elected by the body of club sports athletes in an election overseen by Athletics, and the Club Sports Coordinator would work with those students on issues such as disciplinary action and adding and removing clubs from the system, the proposal said.

The proposal, which also called for the department to change its name to the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation, said "the Club Sports Program as a whole will benefit from the leadership, support and professional expertise of the Department of Athletics and Physical Education." Sousa emphasized the importance of having students stay involved in directing club sports.

"The premise is that they are student-run organizations," she said. "They should be, and we would never want to change that."

Clubs such as Ice Hockey and Men's Volleyball would exist under the new system because they are NCAA-recognized and have no varsity equivalent at Brandeis. However, ones like the Surfing Club do not have this distinction and would have to rely on other resources.

Some club sports participants did not feel comfortable with the loss of support for more than half of Brandeis' clubs, including Men's Volleyball captain Richard Enander '07. He said the current system is good because it makes it easier for students to start new clubs, but the proposal would create hurdles for new groups seeking support.

"I think that would be a pretty big loss for the Brandeis community in general," he said. "If all of a sudden [the ability for new clubs to be created] was to be cut out of the picture, I think that would send the wrong message."

Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said she is against the proposal because it would give Athletics the authority to allocate a portion of the SAF to whatever club sports it saw fit. But no mention of SAF funding is made in the proposal.

Enander agreed that SAF money should remain solely in students' control, and Athletics should be fiscally responsible if they gained oversight of the club sports system.

"I think if the administration is going to take care of it, they should go all the way with it," he said. "They shouldn't be dipping into student funds to take care of what would be their problems [under their proposal].