The Pandemic’s Effect on SAC Funding By Audri Wilde News Editor
O
hio University saw significantly fewer events during the 20202021 academic year due to restrictions set in place to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Consequently, the Student Senate’s Senate Appropriations Commission (SAC), responsible for allocating funds to student organizations, distributed about $40,000 in the spring of 2021 compared to the $270,000 given out in the fall of 2019. According to Brogan Speraw, vice commissioner of SAC operations, there had previously been a limit on how much money student organizations could request from SAC within one bi-weekly funding decision. But since there were so few events held during the fall semester, SAC removed this limit for the spring 2021 semester. Despite the limit being removed, SAC only gave out an additional $2,900 in the spring of 2021 compared to the fall of 2020. Based on SAC funding
decision records, during the fall semester of 2019, the last semester before COVID-19 hit, organizations on average requested $1,387 from SAC. In spring 2021, after the cap was removed, the average request was $1,861, about $500 more. In contrast with the fall of 2019, however, SAC gave out nearly two times the amount of funds per request during the spring of 2021. “We (SAC) got less events with higher price tags,” Speraw said in a Zoom interview. While unused SAC funds are able to roll over into the next year, the cap was removed in an attempt to get more money back into the hands of the student body during the trying times of the pandemic. According to Speraw, student organizations took full advantage of SAC’s changes. Since the monetary cap was lifted, larger requests were made, detailed in the SAC funding decision records. “Effectively, you could ask for however much money you could possibly
use,” Speraw said. The normal application process requires the student organization president and treasurer to attend a SAC training workshop, then apply for funding via Orgsync. Due to COVID-19, organizations seeking funding only had to receive approval from the university and devise a COVID-safe plan for their event. Speraw said these additional requirements rarely hindered student organizations from receiving funding. Generally, organizations took care of the necessary precautions before requesting funding for on-campus events. According to SAC funding decision reports, student organizations were typically denied funding when the price of the event was improperly documented in their request, the event was not open to the public or the request was not essential to the success of the event or organization. The main reasons for denying funding during the 2020-2021 academic year were almost identical to those from the previous year. During the 20192020 academic year, however, many requests were
