Staying up all night cleaning Allen Fieldhouse is not the easiest way to raise money, but for members of the Asian-American Student Union and other KU student organizations few sources of money exist.

Student Senate rejected the renewal of block funding, where organizations receive an unfettered amount of money, in 2001 to multicultural student organizations. As a result, multicultural organizations have shifted their goals of educating students about different cultures to learning fundraising strategies.

Student organizations are now trying to get back the funding they lost.

Currently AASU, the Hispanic-American Leadership Organization, Black Student Union and First Nations Student Association receive their money through line-item appropriations.

They must develop a budget requesting money for every single expense they project for the next year.

“We do an obscene amount of fundraising,” said Victoria Li, president of the AASU and Overland Park junior. “We don’t have enough money as an organization to do the things that we want to.”

Multicultural student organizations like AASU were able to bring higher profile speakers and develop more educational programs for students when they were allotted block funding.

Robert Page, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said he was in support of bringing back block funding.

“I think it allows the flexibility to program more efficiently,” he said.

He also said block funding would help students develop programs for education and not focus on fundraising.

Bryan Young, Student Senate treasurer and Wichita senior, said that line-item funding was best-suited for these organizations because it made them plan one year in advance instead of two years. But he said that Senate would be willing to grant block funding status again if the organizations made convincing arguments and had a department oversee the money.

The main expense these organizations have every year is covering registration for yearly conferences. Student Senate pays for it, but the money does not cover lodging and travel expenses.

In 1997, the HALO used the money it got through block funding to bring Edwards James Olmos, an actor who played a lead role in “Stand and Deliver,” to speak to the students about issues facing Hispanics.

The $3,050 Student Senate currently gives HALO would not cover the $10,000 to $15,000 needed to bring him here today.

This year FNSA held its Big 12 Conference conference at the University along with its yearly powwow. Student Senate gave FNSA $7,505 for the powwow and did not give any money for the conference.

Raymond Red Corn, Shawnee freshman and FNSA treasurer, said the group had to raise approximately $10,000 to get to the about $18,000 needed for the conference and the powwow.

“Right now we are limited to doing the powwow as well as one or two smaller events like scholarship workshops for high school students or poetry readings or a speaker,” Red Corn said.

Originally, the money student organizations received from block funding was handled by the students, which caused problems.

“We noticed that some of the groups had been mismanaging and misusing the funds,” said Aaron Quisenberry, associate director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center. “Student Senate decided to remove block funding and put them back on line-item.”

Applications for block funding are on a two-year cycle and these organizations won’t be eligible to apply until November of 2006.

Page said if block funding was reinstated, the money would be given to the Office of Multicultural Affairs that would handle the distribution of the money to the organizations.

— Edited by Lisa Coble-Krings

2006-2007 BLOCK BUDGET

The following groups receive block funding from Student Senate:

Student Senate $139,407

University Dance Company $123,000

Lied Center $117,500

Graduate and Professional Association $86,660

University Theatre $55,000

KU Bands $54,000 Headquarters Counseling Center $46,000

Hilltop Child Development Center $35,000

GaDuGi Safe Center $28,255

Multicultural Resource Center $22,000

Student Union Activities $15,000

KU Forensics $12,000

Women’s Transitional Care Service $8,000

Douglas County AIDS Project $4,000

Elections Commission $1,220

Source: Student Senate