By Billy S. Garland
At the University of Louisville, the majority of money available for student organizations is managed by the Student Government Association. When that money will be used to plan and put on events, it is filtered through the Student Activities Board and dispersed to the smaller Recognized Student Organizations involved. However, there have been instances in which the SAB was forced to look to the RSOs that it oversees for financial help.
Near the end of the 2009 spring semester, the SAB found that they would have to borrow funds from another source, in order to put on the events they had planned. That alternative source surprisingly turned out to be one of the smaller RSOs-the campus radio station, WLCV.
‘ ‘They had some leftover money in their budget,’ said Joshua Hardman, SAB financial chair. ‘They agreed to let us borrow some, under the promise that we would work with them in the future.’
The SAB is now working with the executive members of the radio station, to plan an event for them, to pay back the money. According to the radio station’s general manager, Courtney Markham, it is still uncertain what that event will look like. But with the reciprocal help of the SAB, WLCV is excited about what is to come.
‘We are planning to put together an event that will probably run late in the spring semester,’ said Markham. ‘We are hoping to include some bands or a DJ, because we have connections in both. We just want to put on a good concert for the students.’
It is this focus on the students that seems to have led the small organization to loan money to the SAB. During the 2008-2009 school year, WLCV controlled a budget of around $3,200, while the SAB controlled a budget of nearly $120,000. As a result, it becomes difficult to understand why the money had to be borrowed in the first place.
Hardman lamented that he was not overseeing the financial side of the SAB at the time that this occurred, so he was unable to comment on what led the board to seek out additional money. But he insisted that this was not a typical situation, and it was one that would be avoided in the future.
‘I hadn’t heard anything about it,’ said O.J. Oleka, SGA president. ‘That is the kind of situation that I hope to prevent with the budget reforms we put through.’
Oleka’s reforms reduced the budget of the SGA central board and then redistributed that money throughout the other committees and councils. The SAB received by far the greatest benefit from the redistribution, as their budget increased to approximately $150,000. The radio station’s budget held steady at $3,200.
For those in charge of WLCV, the value of the organization has nothing to do with money.
‘For us, it’s a matter of raising the visibility of our group,’ said David Horrar, WLCV faculty adviser. ‘Like the SAB, we are a part of the SGA. It is about getting these groups to work together, and for us to support them as they support us. That will raise the value of both of our groups.’
