The University's television station, BTV, has been a secured club since 2002 and receives between $17,000 and $20,000 in student funds each year. This board is alarmed by two problems with the station as it currently functions.

First, the BTV that exists on campus today is markedly different from the one that was secured by the student body nine years ago and is no longer deserving of its elevated status as a secured club—or the privilege to spend money in the unique manner that comes along with it. While the BTV of 2002 produced and aired a variety of regular programming and events for the University community, the club in its current form is almost exclusively focused on spending its secured funds on individual students' projects, some of which are highly costly and, even after several semesters in production, have yet to be shared with the community at large.

Second, the bodies that were meant to govern BTV's spending are no longer present. According to the club's constitution, BTV should have an executive board to propose expenditures and a general board to approve them. However, today BTV is run by just three students who control all of the club's funding allocations.

These two developments have resulted in troubling spending patterns.

Last semester, the club spent approximately $19,000. While some of its expenditures were legitimate, it is disconcerting that thousands of dollars were spent on items that run contrary to BTV's original purpose.

A large percentage of this sum includes payments club members' for trip to Germany for a film festival, actors for a club leader's video submitted to multiple film competitions and club sweatshirts.

Secured clubs are guaranteed money from the Student Activities Fund because they are "essential to the main goals and purpose of the university and student body," according to the 2010 Constitutional Review Committee.

For instance, WBRS has regular new programming and helps organize well-attended concerts. Student Sexuality Information Services educates the student body and provides counseling resources. The Justice is also a secured club, and its SAF funding goes only toward its printing expenses.

Both secured and unsecured clubs draw money from the same source, though secured clubs have primary access to funds. This semester, unsecured clubs that serve the student body in tangible and visible ways did not receive funding for many of their activities. It is unfair that clubs sponsoring innovative and important programming are unable to receive funds for those projects while a secured organization is using so much money with so little to show for it.

Furthermore, the shift in purpose mentioned above has also resulted in a lack of visible and readily accessible original content in the past couple of years.

The channel's schedule shows that no content produced after 2009 will be aired this month, and the content aired currently is rerun every day. If BTV's members feel that their time and effort are better spent producing individual projects to be submitted to film festivals or distributed by means other than the television station, then the club's purpose has changed from its original intent. And while there is nothing wrong with having such a club on campus, it should not be secured.

BTV has been acting irresponsibly and in a way that disadvantages other students. At a time when the entire campus is trying to cut back on major expenses and do more with less money, particularly when it comes to club expenditures, it is wrong that a secured organization seems to be taking advantage of its position and using student funds in a way that benefit only a few students when that money could be put to better use elsewhere.