Confusion over missing application materials delayed funding allocations during ASUU’s September general assembly meeting Sept. 24, leaving members and Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) frustrated with the process.

Ex-Officio Adam Kotter, who is also involved in a RSO, said information about how to apply for funding was shared only two days before essays were due.

“We received the information about how to get funded two days before the essay was due,” Kotter said.

New funding process

ASUU introduced a new system last semester for funding applications to replace the old ‘first-come, first-served’ method. Now, RSOs must write an essay on how they have an impact on campus, which is then judged by the ASUU rules committee based on a rubric. After looking over these essays, the ASUU allocates funds to these clubs.

This semester, however, the rubric was not included in the application materials. Both student leaders and applicants said the omission caused confusion.

“I just found out the rubric wasn’t even on the application,” Erik Bond, vice chair of the Legislative Assembly, said.

Bond blames the tardiness on bureaucratic failures within the university.

“We had this sent out mid-July, and then this wasn’t available. We had decided when the application deadline was going to be, probably earlier in the year,” Bond said. “We wanted to make sure that that information was out there and available. But due to bureaucratic things, it just didn’t go out apparently.”

“It’s just frustrating, because on our end we did everything right. It’s just the people that actually had to press the ‘submit,’ the ‘finished editing’ button, didn’t,” Bond said. He said last semester, when the rubric was included in the application materials, similar problems did not occur.

Funding requests

During the September meeting, Jason Rose, president of the Army ROTC at the University of Utah fraternal organization — a group composed of Army ROTC cadets but separate from the official ROTC program — requested additional funding for his group. The assembly approved an extra $500.

The request drew comparisons to the old funding process, where clubs directly asked for money at ASUU assemblies and were granted based on who showed up first.

“If we were to increase their amount here, it would be, in a sense, a spiritual follow-up to the previous funding system … and I think that is not something we want to go back to,” Representative Freddy Espinoza said.

Espinoza still voted in favor of granting the Army ROTC at the U of U more money.

Budget strain

ASUU has faced unusually high demand for this semester. According to Assembly Chair Merrin Maughan, student groups requested a total of $535,000, nearly double the annual budget of $273,000.

So far, ASUU has allocated 71% of its budget, leaving $79,000 for spring semester. Members said the decision to allocate more now was based on past patterns, where many groups did not use their full allotments.

“The whole crux of the argument for why we need money is based off of people using their funds,” Bond said. “And sometimes, these past few years, most people didn’t use their funds. There’s a few RSOs that request $4,000 and don’t use that much. That’s why we over-allocated. To try and meet as much demand as possible, while assuming that sometimes students won’t [spend all of their funds].”

Despite the rocky start, ASUU members are determined to smooth everything out by next semester. “With next semester we have a chance to do things right,” Kotter said.