Dear Washington University students,

We are writing on behalf of our student groups asking you all to please understand what it means to sign a block funding petition. For each group currently petitioning for signatures, once they get 15 percent of the student body to sign off, their funds will be promised in Student Union’s next budget. Signing these petitions is not a joke like canceling school for a day—each petition’s success will have a lasting impact to our campus next year.

Currently, there is a deficit of more than $500,000 for SU to find a way to balance, and with almost $600,000 in active block funding petitions, that poses a risk to many of the groups and programs that Student Union currently supports. Many of these events are held by student groups like ours, and we cannot imagine a year without Diwali, dance showcases, competitions, speaker events and a cappella concerts. The reality is, though, that this might be the case next year. SU’s money is finite.

WUnderground, our school’s satirical newspaper, has the largest petition request: $511,000 for a boat. Yes, a boat. As funny as it would be to have SU pay for this boat, that $511,000 needs to go towards student group programming, which we see as SU’s primary purpose. Our student groups already do not receive all the money we request from SU and don’t know what we would do if our funds have to be cut further.

This is by no means telling you to not support any of the block funding petitions, but an ask to be intentional with the decisions you make.

Thank you,

Anu Balasubramanian, Group Coordinator of Sur Taal Laya A Cappella
Jake Bjork, Coordinator for Connections*
Kuu Chen, Treasurer and Co-Director of WashU Hip-Hop Union
Kelsey Donovan, President of WashU Hip-Hop Union
Ashwathy Goutham, President of WashU Raas
Megan Khu, President of the Vietnamese Students Association
Rithvik Kondai, Co-President of Ashoka
Aumesh Misra, President of WashU Bhangra
Sumil Nair, President of WashU Chaahat
Sofia Orelo, Co-President of the Association of Latin American Students
Shayana Seneviratne, Co-President of Ashoka
Angela Yang, Co-President of Chinese Students Association
Patrick Zhou, Co-President of Chinese Students Association