Spring Break
Athletics to ask for $140k budget increase
by Lital Shair
News | 3/6/07
Posted online at 11:36 PM EST on 3/5/07
/ Last updated at 7:19 PM EST on 3/5/07
The Athletics Department will request a budget increase of $140,000 at this month's Board of Trustees meeting to help cover a recently approved club sports program to start next fall. The request will represent the final step in over a year of negotiations between administrators and Union officials over the future of club sports, which are widely considered to be underfunded.
After coming to a general understanding about how to restructure the program and its funding late last year, Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa signed off on the final agreement [Click to see agreement full text] last month. If approved by the Trustees, the agreement will move control of the club sports program, formerly managed only by the Union, to the Athletics Department. It calls for the Union's Finance Board and Athletics to split the costs of operating the program.
The Board of Trustees first heard about club sports funding concerns at their meeting last November, and will vote on the budget increase sometime during the upcoming meetings on campus between March 21 and 23.
The agreement, an addendum to an administrative proposal submitted in May that sought to absorb the program but did not address issues of funding, calls for the Union's F-board to consider, on a line-item basis, funding requests from a council of club sports leaders, primarily for costs associated with coaching, officiating leagues and tournaments for the 22 NCAA-approved and competitive club sports teams. There are a total of 43 club sports, and the remaining clubs will still be eligible for F-board funding.
Adam Gartner '07, Union director of executive affairs, said the F-board will contribute around $100,000 to club sports next year, about the same amount as in previous years.
Keenyn McFarlane, budget director for the office of students and enrollment, who negotiated with Union officials, said the Athletics Department will fund about 63 percent of the included club sports costs if the budget increase is approved.
After coming to a general understanding about how to restructure the program and its funding late last year, Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa signed off on the final agreement [Click to see agreement full text] last month. If approved by the Trustees, the agreement will move control of the club sports program, formerly managed only by the Union, to the Athletics Department. It calls for the Union's Finance Board and Athletics to split the costs of operating the program.
The Board of Trustees first heard about club sports funding concerns at their meeting last November, and will vote on the budget increase sometime during the upcoming meetings on campus between March 21 and 23.
The agreement, an addendum to an administrative proposal submitted in May that sought to absorb the program but did not address issues of funding, calls for the Union's F-board to consider, on a line-item basis, funding requests from a council of club sports leaders, primarily for costs associated with coaching, officiating leagues and tournaments for the 22 NCAA-approved and competitive club sports teams. There are a total of 43 club sports, and the remaining clubs will still be eligible for F-board funding.
Adam Gartner '07, Union director of executive affairs, said the F-board will contribute around $100,000 to club sports next year, about the same amount as in previous years.
Keenyn McFarlane, budget director for the office of students and enrollment, who negotiated with Union officials, said the Athletics Department will fund about 63 percent of the included club sports costs if the budget increase is approved.
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