Matt Mitgang | First Year Center

The class of 2014 listens to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton’s speech at convocation in August. Due to the abnormally large size of the freshman class, the Student Union has extra funds from the activity fees to allocate this year.

SU Vice President of Finance Eliot Walker says he estimates an increase of approximately $40K for the fall semester that was not included in the budget that was passed in April. These extra funds are due to the larger-than-expected enrollment of freshmen.

The current budget is $2,375,820, though the number may be slightly less due to an unexpected decrease in the interest rate.

Though it has not been decided how the extra money will be spent, Walker sees the Bar and Grill and technology coordinator as the best way to serve the most students.

“The way we see it, we have additional students, so we have additional constituents, so we need to increase our services for those additional constituents,” Walker said.

SU currently feels the Bar and Grill would be the best option to benefit the most number of people.

“After the results of the survey came in, it showed that students were overwhelmingly in favor of the idea. We want to follow that enthusiasm the best we can, if possible,” Walker said.

However, there are many obstacles to overcome. As of now, the cost of renovating the basement of Umrath is unknown. It is also unclear whether Bon Appétit, the University’s catering service, would garner all of the profits or be willing to share a portion with SU.

“If we invest our resources in this, we want to see at least some of our investment returned to us so we can continue to give it back to the students,” Walker said.

The process of allocating these funds is a slow one. Walker is still waiting on the administration to return cost estimates to him.

“The administration has been delaying on getting back to us on the financial figures about the Bar and Grill. We’d like to plan on it, but we can’t since we don’t have enough information,” Walker said.

The Bar and Grill would be open to all students, and there would be plans to include a stage area to host speakers and performances.

If the dining area plan does not pan out, however, Walker and his colleagues are still excited about the idea of a techonology coordinator.

“The coordinator would be a jack of all trades. He would help SU and all the student groups with websites and technology problems, as well as coordinate jobs we contract out to vendors, like the software we used for elections,” said Walker. “STS and other technology services on campus just don’t have the expertise these groups need.”

The coordinator’s annual salary would be approximately $100k, but the position would be partially funded by the University.

Walker has worked with his colleagues to decide how to allocate the money.

“Constitutionally, it’s my decision what to do with the additional funds, but the way we’ve decided to take our roles as executives is more of a team. We talk amongst each other—it’s not really a unilateral decision of mine. We take it up as an executive board,” he said.

Walker estimates the budget will continue to increase, or at least maintain these extra funds, in future years. The factors that may increase the total amount of SU’s budget are an increase in interest rates, which have taken a dive in the recent economy; an increase in the number of undergraduate students enrolled at the University, as occurred this year with the large freshman class; and a rise in tuition costs, which is consistent with the recent trend.