BSG freezes club budgets, reopens others

The College at Brockport's Board of Directors voted unanimously Friday, Jan. 28 to freeze the budgets of Amnesty International, S.O.U.L. and Art Student Association because each of the three student clubs used BSG funds before a purchase order was written. This is the third time the board has frozen club budgets for "indefinite amount of time" because of a failure to follow BSG rules.During the fall, BSG unfroze the budgets of the clubs that violated it's policy a week after the budgets were frozen.

"The story of this year is we freeze club budgets for a week and then we unfreeze them," BSG President Eric May said.

Fine Arts Representative Jessica Moore motioned to move Brockport's Habitat for Humanity to "S" Committee (BSG has four types of clubs), which means the club will lose all BSG funding. However, Brockport's Habitat for Humanity has never had a BSG budget and all of the club's activities are done through fundraising, said club president Mandi Caldwell.

Brockport's Ad-Hoc Committee found that Brockport's Habitat for Humanity is in direct violation of BSG laws because the club has a regional affiliate, Flower City Habitat for Humanity, which is a Rochester affiliate of the well-known international nongovernmental organization, Habitat for Humanity.

The Board voted 10-0 (with two abstaining) to move Brockport's Habitat for Humanity to S Committee.

Caldwell said Brockport's Habitat for Humanity takes part in three Flower City Habitat-sponsored builds every semester and works to raise funds for its local affiliate.

Since the Board is freezing club budgets for the third time this year, there was some discussion about whether punishments should be more severe for clubs that fail to abide by BSG rules.

Several Board members and BSG president Eric May noted that freezing a club's budget for one week isn't a severe punishment.

"I'm not sure how much (freezing a club's budget for one week) sticks," May said. "My standpoint on freezing budgets is to freeze it to drive the point home that (the club has committed) a serious violation."

It seemed that most Board members were against stricter punishments for clubs that violate BSG rules. Some Board members noted that harsher punishments can't prevent basic human error.

"I think the system we have in place right now is fine," said Raquel Jean-Baptiste, Cultural Council Representative. "Adding (harsher penalties) is not going to make a big difference. There will still be clubs that make mistakes."

Jean-Baptiste also noted that it is important for the Board to be consistent. She said it wouldn't be fair to clubs that commit future violation if harsher penalties were imposed.

Other Board members said that the current system seems to be working because no club has thus far made a second violation and had their budget frozen a second time.

BSG Vice President Michelle Paul said after the meeting that she will submit a proposal for how to punish clubs that commit multiple violations to the College Senate during its Monday, Jan. 31 meeting.