Student Events submitted a letter to Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy on Monday, Oct. 29, asking for funding directly from the Student Events Fee listed on the tuition agreement, with oversight only by the Department of Student Activities instead of the Finance board. After Student Activities Fee changes were implemented last year, secured clubs such as Student Events and the Justice had to start making line-item requests from the F-Board for funding. Before that, all secured clubs received a certain percentage of the SAF at the beginning of the year to use at their discretion.

Student Events received $110,992.25 from the F-Board for July to December 2007, according to the budget report on the official Web site of the Student Union treasurer at Brandeis University. So far, the organization has spent $63,758.49, 57.44 percent of its allotted funds for the semester.

The Student Events Fee for Fall 2007 is $32 per student and the Student Activities Fee is $150, according to the tuition agreement. These fees are given to the F-board to allocate among all chartered and secured clubs.

The proposed change "will really just make social life better for Brandeis students," said Director of Student Events Lauren Barish '08. "This change will make it so the Student Events Fee goes directly to Student Events . Instead of going to the F-Board for that money, that money will go directly to Student Events," she said.

In the letter to Eddy, Student Events requested to receive its funds directly from the Student Events Fee on the tuition bill, the entire amount to be deposited in a separate account from the one F-Board funds, for funds not spent in one semester to be carried over to the next semester and to allocate funds received as they see fit without approval from F-Board but with oversight from the Department of Student Activities.

Eddy declined to comment about the proposal.

Union members feel strongly that this proposal, sent directly to Eddy, undermines the Student Union's system for allocating funds, as illustrated in the Student Union Constitution.

"In order to amend the constitution or the by-laws, there are specific procedures [clubs] need to go through," Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 said. "The problem in this case was that Student Events ignored the system and went directly to Jean Eddy."

Section 10 of Article VI of the Union Constitution states that all Union organizations (i.e., clubs) must disclose to the Union Treasurer or F-Board Chair all of their outside sources of funding and must submit "an itemized budget of projected income and expenses for the entire academic semester." According to Section 6, Student Events, as a secured organization, is eligible to receive a baseline amount of $193,400 from F-Board per year.

However, Student Events feels that the proposed arrangement will allow for a more efficient allocation of funds within the organization, which would lead to better programming of campus events.

The Department of Student Activities is very supportive of the proposal, according to Becca Lehrhoff, a student activities advisor. "We'd like to see [Student Events] have full control of their funds," Lehrhoff said.

Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes, who also said she supported the proposal, explained that it would allow Student Events to implement larger-scale events on campus and to better meet student needs.

"Student Events needs to be seen as the campus programming board and have the ability to do large-scale programming," Grimes said.

Union members disagree that Student Events taking care of its money will allow innovative programming and the continuation of Brandeis traditions, as the proposal states.

"This proposal puts 17 percent of Student Activities Fee directly under adminstrative control, exactly where it's not supposed to be because students should have all the say in how their money is spent," Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

If the proposal takes effect, Student Activities will provide Student Events with financial oversight, Grimes said.

"We maintain, and will continue to maintain, meticulous financial records and responsibly use our budget," the proposal reads. "With oversight from the Department of Student Activities, you can be assured that money will be used wisely and in the best interests of the Student Body."According to Sinha, this proposed change would reduce transparency of Student Events' finances.

Barish and Student Events Director of Finance Ben Gordon '08 met with Ha and Sinha last Monday night to discuss this proposal.

Ha said that though he does not think the proposal would improve Student Events' system, the main concern that he and Sinha had was that Student Events ignored Student Union processes, as they are proposing an amendment to the Union Constitution."They just skipped the entire Student Union government and went straight to the administration," Ha said. "No organization is above the rules set forth by the Constution and, therefore, the student body," Sinha said.