Knickie Duchatellier
United Student Government and the USG-funded organizations should work on their communication to make sure that organizations understand the regulations in place by administration and USG, said Dominique Gabriel, treasurer of Caribbean Students Organization
“My biggest issue with USG is the fact that I feel like there is a miscommunication,” said Gabriel “I feel that when they speak to administration it is their job to convey everything back to us”. “There is no clarity.”
Events off campus
There has been a misconception among several USG-funded organizations, in particular CSO, that there were new restrictions in regards to having events off-campus.
There are no regulations stating that events cannot be held off-campus. He believes it is the leadership of some of the organizations that have misinformed their members about the rules, which in turn led to a misunderstanding.
“USG is not putting restrictions on off-campus events,” said Matthew Levin-Stankevich, president of USG “Nobody has been forced to come on campus yet.”
Levin-Stankevich did mention that there may be future USG legislation made requiring all events to be held on campus with the exception of banquets.
He further stated that it was the administration; the president and vice president of student affairs for Buffalo State College, has the power to restrict whether events can be held on- or off-campus.
According to Hal. D Payne, vice president of student affairs, the college collects money in the form of the mandatory activity fee. This money is then given to USG and they create a budget for the organizations funded by USG. It is up to the administration to approve his budget.
Since USG has the authority to create regulations within the budget that organizations have to follow, they too have the power to restrict what organizations can do, said Payne. He later added that if the administration has the right to deny approval of these restrictions, if they feel that they are unjust.
“In approving the budget we can stipulate that there be no off-campus events, but we haven’t done it,” said Payne.
Liability
Events such as Caribash, created by CSO, were held off-campus the past seven years due to campus construction, but now they are being asked to come back to the campus by USG and administration.
“We have liability issues in regards to off-campus events,” said Levin-Stankevich.
The liability issue came up during the Sept 12 USG meeting. The meeting minutes said that Payne was against off-campus events.
“I did one thing and one thing only, I read the oath and swore in the new officers,” said Payne. He does not acknowledge being against off-campus events.
“Events can still be off-campus just without alcohol, mainly focusing on Caribash,” said Levin-Stankevich. CSO wanted to have alcohol at this event.
The liability issue in regards to alcohol deals with organizations serving alcohol to minors, said Payne.
There are no noted prior incidents of underage drinking, said Payne.
Gabriel, treasurer of CSO said that having alcohol is no longer an issue.
Time and Place
Two of the main factors in whether or not events can be off campus are:
CSO has held many of its events such as the Dollar Jam and Caribash at the Town Ball Room, which is in downtown Buffalo.
The venue that CSO decided to pursue is the Town Ball Room which has a history of unruly crowds around it, as sited in the USG meeting notes. Payne does not want to risk the possibility of anything happening at this event, which is also sited in the USG meeting notes.
“If security is the issue, then CSO will pay for it,” said Gabriel.
The amount of security and how much of the events budget would be spent on security are not certain, she said.
If the events are going to be held at a bar that lets out at 4 a.m. and serves liquor then USG and administration would have to reconsider the possibilities of having the event elsewhere, Levin-Stankevich said.
Money Problems
Since putting on events costs money, organizations on campus are being given financial incentives to bring events back to campus, said Levin-Stankevich.
At this point CSO has $13,500 in its budget for Caribash, and will be given an extra $5,000 as an incentive, as well as full coverage for production and set up, which is estimated to cost $8,000. This information was provided by Levin-Stankevich in the form of a letter to CSO. This would give CSO an estimated total of $26,500 for their events. Also off campus events do not qualify for grants.
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