Club Sports Council Works to Fund All Teams Fairly

This year, the Club Sports Council received $150,000 in funding from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. The amount was a 50 percent increase from last year's budget of $100,000 and marks the third consecutive year where club sports funding increased.

The 2011-2012 academic year also marks the third year during which the Club Sports Council is responsible for determining the funding for the individual club sports teams. In determining how much each team will be allotted, Stacy Reader, president of the Club Sports Council and A&S '14, and a member of the women's rugby team, said, "Our mission is to fund the goals of each club team and to provide them with sufficient funding to be competitive in their respective leagues.

"The most important thing is that we provide the teams with enough funding to be in existence," she said. "That means we will fully fund the league fees and dues for the team and the individual members. For example, we pay USA Rugby to allow the Boston College women's rugby team to compete."

To receive the annual budgets, club sports teams go through a lengthy four-stage process that involves mapping out their seasons and presenting their proposed budgets to the Club Sports Council Executive Board, a five-member committee that determines the resource allocations for the teams.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to give the clubs the amount of money they request," Reader said. "The executive board works on how to allocate the resources to make them fit within the budget we are given from Student Affairs, and we apply a percentage knockdown across the board to all the clubs in order to make them fit. A club might ask for $10,000 and we'll end up giving them $6,000."

Parker Condie, a member of the men's water polo team and A&S '13, said, "We asked [the Club Sports Council] for maybe five times what we were actually given, but so did everybody else."

Despite the increase in their overall funding, many club sports teams feel a financial strain, and the majority require their members to pay dues to help offset costs. "The member dues range," Reader said. "Some are less than $100, but others are higher. Some teams have also turned to fundraising to help raise funds. Teams will work concessions or clean up at football games, and others have held carwashes."

The men's water polo team felt relatively satisfied with their budget, said Ian Malone, a member of the team and A&S '13. "We don't fundraise yet, but we are considering that path for another time," he said.

On the other hand, the men's rugby team saw their budget cut by two-thirds this year, which led to a significant increase in their member dues. Each member of the approximately 60-person team must pay $250 annually to be eligible for the team. "This money funds what the school won't pay for, which includes the fields we rent when we can't use our own and the buses we take to get there," said Adam Danielson, a member of the rugby team and A&S '12. "It also helps pay for some of our gear and clothing."

"I wouldn't say that we're happy with the budget," Danielson said, though he said he believes this feeling reflects the club sports teams as a whole. "Obviously, anyone would want more money regardless of the situation."

"Although we are grateful for the money we do get from BC, we would love to have more," Reader said. "We are also grateful for the increased control over the budget we have been given over the past few years."

Karl Bell, assistant director of the Student Programs Office, said, "In the past two or three years, the club sports have expressed frustration with the allocation amounts and the direction of the funding. They felt that the decisions were made without requisite knowledge or expertise on the club teams."

In the past, the Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC) determined the resource allocations for the individual teams. "SOFC no longer funds clubs sports," said Jeffery White, chairperson of SOFC and CSOM '12, in an e-mail. "Instead, [The Division of Student Affairs] decides the breakdown of money that gets directed to SOFC, UGBC, Nights on the Heights, service trips, and now club sports."

Bell said that having the Club Sports Council control their own funding has also improved the accountability within club sports. "The mission of the Club Sports Council is both to manage the funding and also to oversee club sports as a whole," he said. "We have seen increased accountability for the teams because of the Council." ♦