The Student Union's Teaching Award will no longer come with a cash prize after the Union Senate voted to amend its bylaws. The recipients of the award-established in 2001-have received a $500 prize. But under the bylaw changes submitted by Andrew Brooks '09, senator-at-large and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, the honored faculty member will only receive an engraved plaque.

"The Union now has much less money," Brooks said, referring to the last spring's amendment that redistributed the $1 million Student Activities Fee, which cut the Union's budget by more than 40 percent. "Thus, cutting down on costs was required to properly adjust to the smaller finances," Brooks said.

Also, the Union's $200 prize and certificate for an outstanding teaching fellow has been replaced by a plaque.

Undergraduates select from a list of 12 professors-the three from each of the four schools who received the highest Course Evaluation Guide ratings-to receive the Teaching Award. A Union committee chooses a winning Teaching Fellow from a pool of TFs nominated by students.

"Such a small amount of money does not make a difference to the professors, who make a decent amount of salary here at Brandeis," Brooks said, defending the monetary award's removal. "We wanted to make the award more about recognition and not about the money."

Brooks said the Union will save $700 annually now, an important cost-cutting measure. To operate within its drastically decreased budget, the Union has been sponsoring fewer events than it has in the past.

Prof. Dan Perlman (BIO), the winner of the Teaching Award in 2004 and 2005, said he was "deeply honored" to receive the prize, but refused to comment on the decision to take away the cash prize.