The Student Union's latest draft proposal to reform club sports funding calls for splitting costs between the Union and the Department of Athletics. Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said the new proposal, which is seen as an addition to a proposal the administration issued in May, would create a shared funding system by which the Union would cover the more "predictable and non-changing" costs of half of the approximately 45 club sports, including coaching, tournament registration and officiating fees.

Athletics would fund equipment, travel and facility costs, according to the proposal.

Schwartzbaum said she expects club sports funding reforms to be finalized at a meeting with the administration Friday.

But Sawyer said that will "take some kind of miracle."

"If there's no movement on some very dicey items, mostly the money, that's what it'll bog down to again," Sawyer said.

Giving Athletics partial oversight of club sports will give the clubs more consistent access to resources, equipment and field space, Schwartzbaum said, reflecting a change from earlier statements in which Union officials had seemed hesitant to grant Athletics control over student-run clubs.

"No student oversight over the Student Activities Fee . [is] an encroachment on student autonomy," Schwartzbaum said.

But Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said Athletics can't handle these additional costs without the use of money from the Student Activities Fee, which currently funds all student clubs, including club sports.

"I don't see any success here unless money from SAF that's been covering club sports somehow comes into the program," Sawyer said. "I think the Union would be more successful if they focused on the money that was clearly club and organization-related and not worry about equating lots of money with lots of power."

The Union's proposal comes in response to Athletics' May proposal, which the Union rejected because, officials said, it allowed for too much administrative control over club sports, which are widely considered to be underfunded.

"I want the oversight of club sports because we can do it right," Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa told the Justice last month. "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 and Jean Eddy, the senior vice president for students and enrollment, both did not return multiple phone and e-mail messages requesting comment.

But Sawyer said the Athletics Department will need a combination of SAF money and "new-found University money" in order to help fund club sports. Allowing the administration control over club funding money has been a core issue of the negotiations, with the Union fiercely opposed to such a change.

Schwartzbaum said giving the administration any oversight over SAF is "a sticking point."

Rather than using SAF money, Athletics should request more funding from the Board of Trustees when the department presents its budget in the spring, Schwartzbaum said.

"Athletics is going to need a bigger budget," she said, adding that exact costs to each organization haven't been worked out yet.

Brian Paternostro '07, the Union's director of communications, said the autonomous nature of club sports won't change under Athletics.

"We want to make sure that we don't change anything about . the culture of your club," Paternostro said, "just the administrative stuff."

The administration's May proposal also called for adding another full-time employee to Athletics' payroll, who would be responsible for the administration of club sports on campus.

The Union rejected this oversight, as well as the the administration's specification for a Club Sports Council, a body of student-elected members who would distribute club sports funding, because the proposal specified that all council decisions would be subject to the Athletics Director's approval.

Schwartzbaum said details of the Club Sports Council were unclear and the membership of the council was "too inbreedy." She said she worried members of the council would show preference to their own clubs over others.