Student Association is looking into the possibility of reallocating Syracuse University Ambulance’s funding.

SUA is one of several organizations, including Citrus TV and Z-89, that request an operating budget every year from SA’s Finance Board. The money for operating budgets comes from the Student Activity Fee, a fee paid by all SU students as part of their tuition.

Neal Casey, chairman of SA’s Student Life Committee, said the Student Activity Fee may not be the appropriate way to fund SUA because the money doesn’t go to actual events for students. If SUA received its money elsewhere, the Finance Board would have more money to give to other organizations to host speakers or events.

Over the past five years, SUA’s operating budget has increased by about 600 percent, Casey said. Last year, it requested $60,000.

Funding for SUA could come from other places such as SU Health Services instead of the Student Activity Fee, Casey said.

The funding of SUA is a particular issue of contention because it deals with the health and safety of students, Casey said. The central question of the issue is whether or not health and safety is ultimately the responsibility of the students themselves or the university, he said.

While no official talks on the issue have started with administrators or Health Services, SA began thinking about it in January of 2009, he said. No progress was made during the 53rd session. Casey brought the issue up again when running for SA’s Finance Board last week.

SA is only beginning to explore other options to lessen the burden of funding SUA and other organizations with the Student Activity Fee, Casey said. He stressed that this discussion is only in the beginning stages, and the issue is not whether SUA funding will be cut, but rather how it should be distributed.

The ultimate goal in examining the way organizations with operating budgets are funded is to save students money or allocate to them in more direct ways, he said.

kronayne@syr.edu

Published on February 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm