When Oswego State students form an organization, they must become recognized by the Student Association, and then after one year, the organization is eligible to receive a maximum of $2,500 to get started.
For the past two years, it was understood by the SA finance department that the most fiscally responsible cap to give new organizations was $1,000 less than what is written in the Student Association bylaws.
“Student Association organizations that did not receive a budget for the current fiscal year may not receive a budget larger than $2,500 for the next fiscal year,” according to the 2016-2017 SA constitution.
This error came out during the Club Sports Forum on Feb. 12 that new organizations have been told via form in Laker Life that they could only receive $1,500 for their first year as being officially recognized. Club softball, which was started at the end of 2016, was not aware that according to the bylaws,
actually eligible to the full cap of $2,500.
“I think that SA telling us the cap was lower than what it is stated in the bylaws has impacted possible benefits our team could have received,” said Brianna Muncy, club softball president. “I believe we could have had much better player retention and been able to participate in more games if provided with this extra cap. Being given more money would have made our financial situation much less stressful.”
According to SA Director of Finance Miranda Kryskow, she and others involved in determining budgets were under the impression that the cap was $1,000 less than it really is because the previous director had told them it was suggested. She said that the $1,500 cap was more fiscally responsible so it could prevent the overall budget from going into the red, which is what happens when more money is spent than was anticipated.
Kryskow said she sent out an email to new organizations informing them of this mistake last week. As for incorporating the $1,500 into the bylaws, she said she does not plan on doing anything with it right now, so the official cap is expected to stay at $2,500.
“I hadn’t even thought to look at the constitution because I thought I just knew,” Kryskow said. “I should have done some more research, I take full responsibility for that, but hopefully I fixed that, and it looks like, luckily, it didn’t mess up too many clubs in their financial requesting.”
Kryskow said she will be conducting a lot of training with the next director of finance this summer in order to prevent mistakes such as this. She also said she wants to stress transparency and her willingness to help organizations should they have any questions.
“I believe that although this is a major issue that needs to be addressed, I feel that it is simply a matter of miscommunication and not clearly reading the constitution and bylaws for the Student Association,” said Jade Laplante, club softball treasurer. “All senators and directors in the Student Association should be required to clearly read the constitution and bylaws before being inducted as a senator or director. The students in SA are elected to accurately and inclusive represent the entire student body.”
