Due to allocations board's low available funds this semester, many student clubs and organizations lack necessary funding.
According to senior Margarita Villa, president of the allocations board, there is currently a delay in funding coming out this spring due to a high amount of requests for funding. The board was unable to respond to the overabundance of requests.
The budget has officially been released to all student organizations and clubs and many did not come close to the amount of funding they requested. 18 groups did not receive any.
Many affected student groups are expressing their dissatisfaction with the allocations board.
One of the groups largely affected was the African-American Students organization. The group put in a request for roughly $13,000 to support various events for Black History month including speakers, a Bowl-a-thon and a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo. The club only received about 12 percent of the funding they requested.
"We wish they prioritized funding more accurately for the season," said senior Adrienne Taylor, president of the African-American Students Organization. "We wish it were done at a quicker pace. We don't feel like some of the things are just. One of our biggest highlights of the school year is black history month and our funds were cut when other clubs across campus weren't funded."
The Lacrosse Club also faced cuts to funding.
"The allocations board actually ended up cutting our funds for most expensive and arguably most anticipated events we planned for," Lacrosse Club President sophomore Katie Sherrill said. "It was pretty disappointing simply because in comparison to past years. I understand all the time and effort allocations board puts in and knows that it is no easy task. I would like to hope they are doing the best they can to accommodate for all organizations."
The Trap and Skeet Club, a newly formed club, as well as others, are now looking elsewhere for funding.
"With the funds being as low as they are, a club like DePauw's Trap and Skeet Team realizes that we need to go elsewhere for funds," said sophomore Jacob Weiner, a founder and president of the Trap and Skeet Team. "We hope that allocations will recognize that we are working as hard as we can to get off of their back."
Senior Charles Pierre, student body president, said the allocations board has an extremely tough job and the government has been working towards finding solutions to this problem.
"[The board] has limited resources, so we can't make everyone happy," Pierre said. "There are a few ways we can address the issue. For one, conversing amongst student organizations and us is key. The Allocations Board needs to become more transparent and voice their concerns. By letting students know what was going on in those meetings, we would begin to understand what predicament they are in. The university could increase the student activity fee, which would give the board more to distribute and make more organizations happy. This would probably make individual students unhappy, as they would incur more costs and or debt."
Pierre highlighted communication as the best solution to the issue, as funding is a complicated problem.
"This issue is complex, and communication seems to be the best way to get organizations, students and the board on the same page," Pierre said.
Student government is also discussing creating a new approach to recognizing new clubs.
According to Pierre, there should be no correlation between a club being recognized and a club receiving funding. They need to be two separate processes.
Villa failed to respond to multiple requests for interview.
Dean of Campus Life Dorian Shager, who oversees the Allocations board, could not be reached in time for publication.