Upon review of the initiative by the Inter Fraternity Council and the Women’s Panhellenic Council for $30,000 worth of block funding, we think that it is a noble effort but that the cost is too high.

IFC and Panhel deserve block funding. The Greek community provides many valuable services to both the University and the surrounding community. IFC and Panhel bring in speakers, hold training programs, facilitate community service, sponsor events in which the entire school can participate and play a vital role in boosting school spirit.

Due to the nature of the groups’ structure and leadership, budgeting for future events is quite difficult under the current system. Because of the size of the Greek community, IFC and Panhel require a large, steady amount of money to conduct their programming. The groups have repeatedly been forced to cancel or scale back events due to insufficient funds or a lack of planning by former executives.

It is important to note that IFC and Panhel do not fund individual fraternities and sororities, alleviating the concerns of some that this money could be used for parties and private functions. The majority of IFC and Panhel’s events are open to all students. Furthermore, any student can rush a fraternity or sorority, although no one is guaranteed a bid.

We met with two representatives from IFC and Panhel to examine the issue of Greek block funding. They laid out several new programs and events that they would like to undertake that are currently beyond the reach of their budget. One of the ideas that is particularly appealing is to throw a large tailgate party for Homecoming, with the goal of boosting school spirit. They also addressed concerns about sorority rush voiced by some Student Union Treasury members. They explained that sorority rush is self-sustaining and the money obtained from block funding would not be used for that purpose.

Groups that receive block funding do not receive much oversight by Student Union to see how the money is spent. The IFC and Panhel representatives explained that the two organizations already have stringent regulations put in place by their national parent organizations and the Greek Life Office regarding how their money is spent. We are confident that if granted block funding, IFC and Panhel will use the money responsibly.

While we are very much in favor of these two groups receiving block funding, we cannot approve of the amount that they have requested. IFC and Panhel want five dollars per student, which would end up being about $30,000 a year. Currently the two groups combined receive between $12,000 and $15,000 a year. While we feel that they should receive a little more funding, a doubling of their budget seems excessive. When proposed to us, the primary reason for block funding was having a consistent budget from year to year.

We feel that $20,000 would be a fair amount for IFC and Panhel to receive in block funding. The current initiative proposing $30,000 a year is too expensive. If IFC and Panhel change their request to a smaller, more reasonable amount, we will endorse their bid for block funding without reservation. We therefore recommend that IFC and Panhel work with the SU Election Commissioner to amend their block funding proposal.

IFC and Panhel will be holding an informational session tomorrow to present the details of their proposal, and Student Life encourages interested students to attend. The meeting will be held at 8 p.m. in Lien Seminar Room A.

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