Festival funding cut for ’08

     The tide rolled in this week on the wave of controversy surrounding the Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) and the Sweetwater Festival. On Wednesday, SABC finalized its decision to cut funding from the annual downtown festival, saying the money was not available this year.
     “There is no funding this year,” SGA president Ryan Greene said. “The main reason is the amount of money we had after hearing all the requests. We looked at each individual request and had a difficult time making the decision we did. We just couldn’t put money towards Sweetwater. We didn’t have the money to pull from the students’ pockets to give.”
     This year SABC had roughly over $350,000 to work with and an increase of approximately $150,000 worth of requests.  SABC has funded the festival for the past three years and gave them $35,000 last year. Sweetwater requested $45,000 this year.
     “It did not come down to ethics of student dollars, it came down to the money we had to spend,” Greene said. “We cut almost everything we funded this year. Next year, we are raising the student fee to increase the pool of money we have to work with.”
     Although a tough decision for SABC, Greene believes it is one that had to be made.
     “It is one thing to compare Sweetwater to Homecoming, but it is another to compare Sweetwater to the Campus Activity Board International Club or  The GIVE Center,” Greene said. “That is how all those groups run.”
     Jimmy Holder, who is responsible for organizing the venue’s main stage music and is co-chairman of Sweetwater’s marketing committee, respects the decision made and is uncertain of other sources of funding.
     “Obviously we are disappointed in their decision, but we respect it and are moving on,” Holder said. “We have not really looked for other funding. We were waiting on their decision.”
     The verdict is final, and it is one Greene stresses was a university decision.
     “The decision is final,” Greene said. “President Leland, Vice President for Student Affairs Bruce Harshbarger and the university approved it. I told President Leland that I wanted the decision to be made as a university decision. This wasn’t a decision of SABC but a decision of the university.”
Even though the decision must be approved by GCSU administration, it is primarily up to the students.
     “Well it is student revenue so students make the call,” Harshbarger said. “The university checks to make sure things that require a certain level of funding receive that. There are 30 or 40 different cost centers in the budget, such as CAB, SGA and student events. Out of those expenses, certain decisions are left purely up to the students.”
     Harshbarger affirmed that a sponsorship with Parents’  Weekend and the Sweetwater Festival would continue.
     “With Parents Weekend, actually now Family Weekend, we purchase a registration fee including tickets for each of the guests for Sweetwater,” Harshbarger said. “As far as putting money towards entertainment, we cannot fund that through state dollars. That must come from student revenue.”
     Whether or not this move is permanent is uncertain.
     “Next year’s committee is totally different,” Greene said. “There are different people on the committee each year and they will vote and make those decisions when it is time.”
     The projected attendance for this year’s festival is 15,000 people. Last year’s festival totaled over 4,537 students in attendance (85.6 percent of the GCSU student body) and over  2,600 parents. This semester more than ten student organizations petitioned to continue festival funding including:  Kappa Sigma, Kappa Alpha, The Student Ambassador Team and Delta Sigma Phi.
     “The concerts were fun and that is what made the festival what it was,” freshman history and political science major Peter Robertson said. “There were booths and other attractions but for college students the concerts were the main attraction. Without the concerts there will not be as large as a turnout.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 25 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry