When a freshman arrives at Stern, one of her initial exposures to college life is the Club Fair, where the umpteen club leaders that are under the jurisdictions of the Stern College for Women Student Council (SCWSC), the Torah Activities Council (TAC), and the Sy Syms Student Council (SYMSSC) encourage students to get involved. Clubs are an integral component of any Stern girl’s college experience, and as many will testify, friends have been made and interests, majors, and careers have been formed through involvement in extra-curricular activities.
This semester, however, there has been a noticeable decrease in club events. As is well publicized, Yeshiva University is in the midst of a financial crisis, and fiscal reforms have already been instituted on the Beren Campus. Shabbat prices have been raised, the 35th Street dorm prices have increased, and other services have been cut, such as the daily busses for GPATs students to and from Washington Heights. In addition, club leaders have repeatedly been told, upon submitting the relevant event-request forms, to reduce the amount of spending necessary for events. Hence, it has become more difficult for events to be organized.
Co-president of the Physics Club, Ayelet Lerner, said that the apparent decrease in club events makes sense, because “clubs have to live with budget cuts too. They can create events that cost less money, but it involves more time and creativity, so there are fewer of them.”
When asked whether there is a diminished budget this year for club activities, Helene Sonenberg, treasurer of SCWSC, said that the budget for student council is generally similar to last year’s budget, and is unrelated to the budget of the university.
“That being said,” she continued, “we are still trying to be more cost conscious about how we spend our money. We are working with clubs to run effective events at low costs. For example, we emphasize that events should not be centered on food, but rather, food can be used as an enhancement to the event. This attitude stems from using money more effectively and not because we are trying to limit events. We are also working on running higher quality events instead of having several events every night ‘just because.’”
Sonenberg also emphasized that there is no set budget distributed to each club, but “it is known that some clubs run more expensive (but highly successful) events, and we are willing to provide funding in order to continue the quality of events.”
Many club leaders denied comment when asked about potential financial issues and difficulties in creating events this semester, for fear of angering their superiors and potentially even further reducing the funds granted for a certain event. However, Israel Club president Michael Osborn discussed the complications his club has faced in creating events thus far this semester.
“Due to the budget cuts [this year] we have had to find [different] modes of funding [Israel related programming]. As the largest club on campus, we know we run many more events than any other club. This takes up a large percentage of the greater budget allotted to the student councils and their clubs which… is already smaller than usual this year…[and] we have already been approached by the student councils who requested we find a way to further reduce our spending. If we are to continue to provide the programming, we hope, alongside our fellow clubs, [that something will be] changed very soon.”
Though club leaders are confronting challenges in approving events this semester, the actual budget for student councils has remained the same as past years. Aliza Abrams, Beren Campus Director of the Office of Student Life, asserted “the budgets of the student governments are funded by the student activity fee; therefore, [the budget for student council] is directly related to the enrollment on campus each year and is not affected by any external factors.”
However, Abrams added, “across the board, departments and student councils are being run more cost effectively. We are focused on maintaining our important programs while we examine more efficient ways to use our resources.” Accordingly, while the budget is not tangibly decreased, there is still an effort to reduce spending overall.
One club president expressed that despite the financial constraints the student government is facing, “as a club head it is very gratifying to see that the student council members and Office of Student Life are so invested in making my events and all of the events on campus as successful as possible.” Hopefully, new freshman on campus will continue to benefit from the same wide range of extra-curricular activities that older students have had the fortune to experience.