Not even Hampden-Sydney was able to avoid the effects of last year’s financial crisis. Pressures on the School’s budget, stemming mostly from reduced enrollment, have led to budget cuts across campus, including the Student Finance Board. Each year, every student pays a Student Activity Fee of $198.00. In a normal year the Student Finance Board would receive 64% of this fee to allocate to student run clubs and organizations, as well as to contribute to special programs and events. This year, however, the Student Finance Board will receive only 50% of every student’s fee.

Had the School been able to avoid cutting the Student Finance Board’s budget, the board would have had $133,689.60 for the first semester to allocate. As result of the reduced budget the Board will receive close to $30,000 less than that amount, $104,445. 

Willis Davis, Secretary-Treasurer of the Student Government and the Chair of the Student Finance Board, scheduled a meeting with Glenn Culley and all club presidents to explain the budget cuts. Glenn Culley is the school’s controller and one of the people responsible for formulating the annual budget. 

Davis said of the club presidents’ reaction, “They realize that the choices made by the Board of Trustees are irreversible for this school year’s budget, but I feel as though many are willing to request a future re-raise in funding. If not a re-raise in funding, the students want to make it known that the percentage of the Student Activities Fee allocated to the Student Finance Board cannot drop below this 50% point.” One club president interviewed for this article said that he was disappointed by the cuts but felt that Davis was handling the situation well. A budget without the cut was sent to the Board of Trustees but rejected.

Rumors have been swirling about what the money taken from the budget is going to go toward. Mr. Culley assured the club presidents that the money taken from the Student Finance Board has been put into an account that funds the general operations of the College.

Many clubs ended last year with surpluses, however, and many contributed portions of their surpluses for the purchase of OrgSync, a web-based program that will supposedly streamline the administration of campus organizations. Of the purchase Davis said, “Had the SFB known of such a drastic cut in funding, it would have reassessed the OrgSync purchase. However, we have made the purchase, and I believe doing anything but utilizing this program would be an unfortunate misuse of funds.” OrgSync will visit campus later this semester to train club presidents on how to use the software.

Requests to the Business Office for comment were not responded to by this article’s deadline.

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