The Record Volume 120 Issue 6
Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903
record.horacemann.org October 28th, 2022
Changes to student clubs and publications funding promote equity Courtesy of Emily Salzhauer
GET PSYCHED FOR NEUROPSYCH Club hosts I period meeting.
Ariella Frommer Staff Writer This school year, Dean of Students Michael Dalo made changes to student organizations’ fund-request processes, bake sales, fundraising, and merchandise. Dalo implemented these changes to create more equity across organizations, he said. “I want every student group to feel that they’re supported by the school in the same way.” The process of creating the club budgets starts at the end of the school year. Like every department at the school, Dalo requests a certain sum of money from the Business Office based on past spending that he will allocate to clubs and publications the following year, he said. At the start of the year, leaders of student groups register their clubs and request funds that they think will cover their group’s operations for the year, according to the Student Publication Registration Form on the Upper Division (UD) Student Life Page. “Any group that is requesting funding and has a reasonable use for that funding, is going to get the money as long as I have it available to me,” Dalo said. “I don’t think any club did not receive what they asked for, as far as allocation goes.” Dalo does not allocate all the money dedicated to student groups at the beginning of the year, he said. He saves some in the clubs and publications general account for groups who ask for more money to run a certain activity or groups that start during the year, he said. StudioHM, a new visual arts club this year, the club leaders calculated their projected spending depending on which materials are available in the art department and which they would need to buy, president Heidi Li (11) said. “We didn’t really need to ask for a lot of money because all we need are extra materials for projects like ribbons for our upcoming breast cancer awareness project.” Another new club, the Cryptocurrency Club, decided to not request funding this year, president Emma
Chang (10) said. “The student life page says preference is given to long established groups when granting funds, [and] as a non-competitive, discussion-based club, we don’t really need funding.” In past years, certain “legacy” clubs and publications were automatically guaranteed a certain amount of funding each year, Dalo said. There is no official record of which organizations are “legacy” or how an organization earns that designation. “Legacy” organizations were promised a certain amount of funding every year, regardless of their activity or the money they had used in past years. Aside from that, the label is arbitrary and does not confer other privileges, Dalo said. “Now, [funding] is really more dependent on how active that group has been in the past few years and what they’re looking to do for this coming year.” This change allows for a more equitable distribution of the money, Dalo said. Certain legacy publications received significant funds but did not produce more than one issue per year, while newer publications consistently produced multiple issues of high quality writing per year with less funding. Another reason for the shift to a more thoughtful allocation policy is because the school spent more money on safety precautions during the pandemic, and is finding places to save money this year, Dalo said. Debate clubs and publications generally receive more funding than other groups because their expenses are higher, Dalo said. All debate clubs travel to tournaments and printing magazines is an expensive process. Public Forum (PF) Debate’s allocated funds are not enough to cover all club activities, Research Director Hanzhang Swen (11) said. The funds are not enough to cover three nights at a hotel, team dinners, and buses to tournaments, so students usually have to cover a large part of tournament costs themselves, Swen said. “At a school like Horace Mann where the tuition is already so high, we should be able to have these opportunities
for free.” their finances after bake sales to see if The school’s encouragement of they should keep their profits or doclubs to think more carefully about nate them, president Giselle Paulson their spending will be beneficial, (12) said. “Last year, we didn’t necesEditor-In-Chief of The Review Jiy- sarily have to, but we hosted a bake on Chatterjee (12) said. He does not sale and donated the profits to a deexpect these changes to take a toll bate program in the Bronx,” she said. on The Review’s operations. “We If they decide to keep their profits, planned our budget pretty carefully, they will likely go towards merchanand we got basically as much as we dise or tournament fees, Paulson said. requested,” he said. FUNDRAISING BAKE SALES Last year, the school eliminated At the end of September, student large student-run fundraising events. organization leaders received an One reason behind this is because email from Administrative Assistant fundraisers highlight the socio-ecofor Data Management Laura Cassi- nomic differences within the student no. It listed their allocated budget, body, Dalo said. “During the last Cythe account number from which they cle for Survival event, there was a TV would make deposits or withdrawals, that showed this family donated X and a new policy for bake sales: clubs amount.” that receive between $500 and $2,999 Given that tuition costs $59,800 and publications that receive between yearly, the school will not ask parents $500 and $1,999 must run at least one for money aside from the Annual bake sale per year to help cover their Fund, Dalo said. “If the parents of expenses. Clubs that receive $3,000 one club have more means than anor more and publications that receive other club, that club is going to come $2000 or more must run at least one in with more money because the parbake sale per semester. Organizations ents of the kids in that club are going receiving less than $500 can also host to be able to donate,” he said. bake sales, but are not required to. Limiting student organization “It made sense to me that the funding to school allocation and bake groups that are receiving more mon- sales promotes equity between clubs ey and have more expensive activity because it sidesteps parent contribushould be required to do two bake tions. If groups would like to fundsales to cover a bit more of their ex- raise for either their club or penses,” Dalo said. an organization, r The school also distributthey can only do to c e t Dir ci/Ar ed a document of so through bake Cora n ia Viv “Rules for sales, Dalo said. Student In the past, Run Bake the Cancer Sales” that Aw a r e n e s s set prices for Club (CAC) common items. ran Cycle Bake sales must for Suralways offer an vival and item that is $1 or Relay for less, nothing can Life to cost more than $5, raise and a slice of pizawareza must be $3.50. n e s s Students must mark about prices for all items and cancer can only decrease, not and money increase prices. for cancer research. “There have been “Relay for life used to be a huge problems with this in the event with a carnival, speakers, and past when there are no rules around entertainment,” CAC president Ariebake sales,” Dalo said. “It’s ridiculous la Weber (11) said, “All the money we that one group is selling Broadway raised went a very long way in cancer Joe’s for three bucks and another research, and every single penny was group is selling it for five.” donated to battling cancer.” Clubs and publications leaders Eliminating fundraisers prevents filled out a form to request a Wednes- the CAC from fulfilling their purday, Thursday, or Friday to host their pose, Weber said. “I understand why bake sale, and received a calendar we can’t raise money for equity realast week from Cassino. Twenty or- sons, but if we can’t even raise awareganizations will host bake sales in the ness at these big events, then why are first semester, out of around 110 total we even a club?” she said. Since they clubs and publications. The money cannot ask families to donate money, that a group makes from bake sales they plan to attach a public cancer goes into their own budget, which fundraiser link on emails to families, they can then use towards different Weber said. activities. MERCH PF Debate leadership will evaluate Starting this year, the school will
only pay for t-shirts if clubs would like merchandise. If they want to purchase something else, the school will contribute the estimated amount for each member in the organization to get a t-shirt; the organization must make up the difference through a bake sale or students paying for it themselves. In the past, the school covered club merch in any form and from any vendor. “It was a huge expense that the school was covering completely, ‘’ Dalo said. There are also new rules surrounding the specificities of merchandise. Now, merchandise needs to say “Horace Mann” or “HM” on it, and it must be maroon with white lettering or white with maroon lettering. “If the school is paying for merchandise that is supposed to be representative of the school, it should represent the school,” Dalo said. The Manntra, a health and wellness magazine, hopes to get merchandise for the club this year, Editor-In-Chief Molly Goldsmith (11) said. “We’re probably going to have to pay for that ourselves this year because we do not want t-shirts, so I understand that not everybody is going to want to pay for it.” Goldsmith also wants to host bake sales this year, but the club would not use that money for merchandise, she said. Instead, they will donate the profits to various organizations the club cares about, such as mental health organizations, she said. If possible, the editorial board of The Review will pay for their sweatshirts using proceeds from bake sales, but they will consider various other options if they do not raise enough money, Chatterjee said. PF Debate did not plan to buy anything more expensive than t-shirts anyways, so these changes to merchandise do not affect the club greatly, Paulson said. “Most of our priorities for our budget would be going to tournaments, getting coaching, and making sure that the costs aren’t too high for tournaments, so the important functioning of our club is mostly unaffected.” While some club leaders may not be excited about the new changes, they will have to accept these changes, Subramanian said. “If the school can’t afford it, the school can’t afford it,” she said, “There’s other ways we can make money and pay for our team.” At the end of the year, clubs and publications’ funds do not rollover into the next year. Instead, the unused money from the student activities budget transfers to the following year’s Student Assistance Fund, where any student may request money for school-related activities outside of financial aid, Dalo said.