CU’s cost centers around campus are facing major budget crunches in the next fiscal year after receiving the final funding allocations at CUSG’s last legislative meeting this season.
CUSG’s legislative council has been discussing the distribution of student fee money for several weeks while each cost center pleaded their case for funding.
On Wednesday and Thursday evening from 5-9 p.m., legislative representatives voted on final funding cuts from the university’s budget.
The UMC, The Recreation Center and Wardenburg Health Center were among the most effected centers on campus.
Wardenburg took a $400,000 cut, surmounting any other cost center’s budget reduction.
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellness and Director of Wardenburg, Donald Misch, said the center works hard but is still struggling.
“Our cost of doing business, like most health care, goes up a lot,” Misch said. “It’s not something we can control.”
Misch, referring to all budget cuts, said he thinks we can make it work this year, but not for next year.
“I think we’ve squeezed all the blood we can out of the stone and there’s just not that much left,” Misch said.
Wardenburg received a total of $3,572,108 in funding.
With a $61,000 reduction being made, the Recreation Board also faced difficult decisions, one of which was whether to discontinue the Childcare Center in the facility.
Several representatives from the public spoke against closing the Childcare Center. A total of eight testimonies argued that the childcare services are priced reasonably, family friendly and safe.
A graduate student in the information and communications program and ATLAS representative, Alexandra Morgan, said she thinks when dealing with a financial situation such as this, it is easy to overlook the impact every decision has on parts of the CU community.
“It’s easy to forget about the minorities,” Morgan said. “You need to think about how this may shift and change someone’s life. You need to be creative.”
Director of Recreation Services Cheryl Kent said the budget cuts will affect all affiliates of the Rec. center and the idea is to make the least impact on the average student.
The childcare program was ultimately dismissed and CUSG passed the finance board’s recommended budget of $4,102,107 with an additional $15,000 for club sports.
The University Memorial Center, another major cost center on campus, faced significant funding cuts and threats to its programs.
A proposal to cut $24,997 from the UMC CU Gold funding, ultimately cutting the entire program, caused controversy between the legislative council and members of the UMC board.
Members in support of cutting the program said they were concerned with the growing travel costs CU Gold utilizes and that removing the program would have little effect on the overall performance of the UMC.
Student Coordinator of CU Gold Anna Damm, a 21-year-old junior communications and English major, spoke on behalf of the program and said CU Gold is a free and non-selective leadership development program that is entirely student run.
Instead of cutting the program as a whole, CUSG voted to cut $17,500 from travel funds that usually go towards an annual retreat and other events.
The UMC kept CU Gold with a base budget of $3,118,981. Added to that was $2,838 into the sustainability account. The facility did lose $22,233 for art gallery funding.
Student Organizations Finance Office (SOFO) received $397,637, while the Student Group Funding Board received $300,000, cutting their budget by nearly 50 percent.
CUSG Proper’s budget proposal was past, allocating it $518,796. The cost center took a large cut from the homecoming budget but finance board members said other supporters both within the university and outwards in the Boulder community are expected to supplement the funding.
The CU Environmental Center plans to expand its Green Lab Program, creating energy efficient research labs around campus. CUSG actually voted to add an enhancement of over $20,000, totaling $936,560 in funding.
Student Outreach Retention Center for Equity (SORCE) was given $209,263 and the Women’s Resource Center received $267,731 including funding cuts from the annual intergenerational women’s retreat.
The Volunteer Resource Center (VRC) had to negotiate for crucial funding towards operating costs and the popular “Better Boulder Better World” volunteer event it holds each year. CUSG awarded the VRC $165,040.
The Cultural Event’s Board (CEB) represented over 35 student groups around campus, deciding how the university would provide funding for each group. Ultimately, the legislative council gave CEB a total of $431,940 towards funding its many programs.
The Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender center received no funding cuts and was allocated a total of $66,473.
Final allocation of funding to all cost centers and programs totaled to $19,930,684.
Vice President of External Affairs Allison Foley, a media studies major, said CUSG did a lot of planning beforehand in order to ensure everyone knew what to expect with the budget meeting.
“The cost centers all responded pretty well, and handled the discussion professionally,” Foley said. “It will definitely be an interesting year financially for all the cost centers, and we all have to make a lot of sacrifices.”
Rodrigo Gonzalez, a 22-year-old senior and chemical engineer major said while the budget decisions were very difficult and some tough decisions were made, he was very happy overall with the results.
“It is very monumental to see the student government reduce their annual fees for the first time in our history,” Gonzalez said.
He said while making important budget decisions is hard work, he thinks the students will be happy with the results.
“We were elected on a platform of lowering the cost of education and this is how it’s done,” he said. “I’m very glad that we can go back to the constituents who voted for us and say ‘we got the results that you wanted’ and I’m glad that we finally made a difference. “
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Carli Auran at Carli.auran@colorado.edu.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Audrey Hoffman-Lekmine at Audrey.hoffmanlekmine@Colorado.edu.
