Crimson Nights will likely receive $30,000 less from the student government than it did last year, which ASUU senators said is a result of a rule in the student constitution capping student-group funding at $5,000.
While the Associated Students of the University of Utah urged the Union Programming Council to make budget cuts, UPC leaders said the decrease could cost them two Crimson Nights — the free campus parties held in the Union about once a month.
“We’ll do as much as we can with the money we have…but it’s hard to offset operational costs when the attendance is so high,” said Julie Tran, director of UPC.
Tran said UPC might have to cancel the November Crimson Nights because of a lack of funding.
The ASUU Senate voted last Thursday to give the UPC $5,000 instead of the $25,000 it asked for, which would be transferred from a general reserve fund under the Presenter’s Office, ASUU’s programming board. The Senate vote for the bill was ten to three with one abstention.
The ASUU General Assembly will vote on the bill Tuesday evening.
Although UPC and ASUU have been meeting since the summer to discuss funding, Crimson Nights Director Madison Warren said that the magnitude of the decrease was “a little shocking.”
She said UPC will have to “be very creative” with budgeting to avoid canceling events.
“We’ll do everything we can not to cut them, and really make Crimson Nights better this year,” Warren said.
ASUU’s decision to decrease UPC’s funding came when leaders noticed a rule in Redbook saying that no student organization could receive more than $5,000 per year of ASUU funds from any source.
Although the rule has always been in place, past administrations had not been following it, thinking that giving the money to the Presenter’s Office and letting it flow to UPC from there would satisfy the law.
Last year, ASUU gave $50,000 to UPC. In 2005, it gave more than $48,000 and in 2004, it gave more than $30,000.
Still, ASUU will be giving the organization more than the allotted $5,000 — ASUU gave UPC $15,000 already this year from their overall budget.
“We didn’t feel we could cut all the way down to $5,000,” said ASUU Senate Chair Ryan Jensen. “We don’t want them not to function.”
Jensen said that in ASUU’s talks with UPC, it was never mentioned that they would have to cut any Crimson Night events.
At Thursday’s meeting, senators questioned spending decisions for Crimson Nights, but UPC leaders defended their expenses.
For the August Crimson Nights, UPC spent almost $670 on staff T-shirts and almost $780 on lanyards, which Senate Vice-Chair Tiffany Jack said was too much money for things that could be re-used for each event.
Warren said UPC supplies T-shirts and lanyards for every Crimson Nights because “students just don’t bring them back” and it presents security issues when trying to identify who is actually working that event.
Senate funds are usually appropriated to student groups to attend academic conferences or complete projects.
“(Students) would rather have money for going on conferences than us spending $475 on airbrush tattoos,” said Jessica Elder, senator for the College of Social and Behavioral Science.
Tran said she thinks the money has been spent responsibly.
“Cutting back on all the fun doesn’t really make it Crimson Nights anymore,” she said.
Each Crimson Nights costs about $14,000 to put on, coming out of UPC’s entire yearly budget of more than $108,000.
UPC receives funding from the Union, event admissions income, table rentals and sponsors, such as the ASUU Presenter’s Officer, Student Affairs and the University Credit Union.
They expect to spend $82,000 on events this year, but because of additional budget cuts, they are still lacking about $31,000.
Tran said UPC will continue to look for donations and ways to cut expenses, noting that last year they sometimes offered sparkle tattoos instead of airbrush tattoos because they are cheaper.
She said ASUU has helped Crimson Nights grow — the August event drew a record-setting crowd of more than 7,000 people.
But the funding decrease will be a blow, Tran said.
“You can’t deny it won’t affect the program,” she said.
This year, ASUU has also limited funding of other student groups that had received more than $5,000 in the past, such as Alternative Spring Break.
“We want to be responsible to student fees, seek to uphold Redbook and fund student groups in an equal manner,” Jensen said.
Lennie MahlerCrimson Nights director Madison Warren and other members of the board present their case for financing to the ASUU Senate. The senate voted to cap Crimson Nights funding at $5,000.