The Student Fee Committee put the Student Activities and Leadership Program’s 2009-10 budget on reserve, indicating that SALP will most likely have to implement some changes before presenting their budget request again.
Because $8,000 in SALP’s budget was designated for leadership programs, the SFC concluded that SALP’s budget failed to reflect its mission statement by not providing enough money for leadership training.
The SFC, which allocates more than $12 million in student fees to student groups including athletics and the Vanguard.
“SALP currently has a million dollar budget of which leadership training is only 1 percent of,” said student body President Hannah Fisher, describing the main concern with SALP’s budget. A task force consisting of students and a nonvoting member of SALP will review current SALP policies and recommend necessary changes.
BackgroundAfter Fisher, Flint and other ASPSU members were elected, they felt a responsibility to give a voice to the student body that elected them on a platform that included SALP reform, Fisher said.
The SFC, which reviews the budget requests of departments at the beginning of fall term, was reviewing SALP’s budget request, the events and programs requested in its budget did not reflect the organization’s mission statement, said Aimeera Flint, SFC chair.
According to the SFC’s SALP Reform Task Force working guidelines, they believe that SALP needs to implement more organized trainings, decrease the level of bureaucratic red tape that students encounter and strengthen communication between student groups.
“It’s the only department that has only one percent [of its budget] going toward its mission,” Flint said.
What the SFC is saying “Aimee [Shattuck] does the best she can with the [available] resources.”-Aimeera Flint, SFC chair
On the task force:”We’re leaving it up to students to decide on what needs to be changed.” -Aimeera Flint, SFC chair
“We can’t satisfy everyone, because we have to use a fair process; groups should not expect us to show any favoritism.” -Waddah Sofan, SFC member
What SALP is sayingAimee Shattuck, the director of SALP, said that the organization has already implemented several changes in advising.
Shattuck said the model of advising has changed to focus more on learning and leadership, and has involved the creation of an advising syllabus that outlines the advisor’s responsibilities and the outcomes they hope to achieve.
“We have revamped our administrative support to make the processes easier and more transparent,” Shattuck said in an e-mail. “For example, we have redone nearly all of our forms to be clearer and easier to use with instructions and routing information. Our accounting team has been restructured and is processing paperwork in a timely manner.”
Shattuck said that the SALP policy manual has been updated and is available to all students on its Web site, www.salp.pdx.edu. She also said that none of SALP’s current plans will cost additional money.
“We have plans to do even more,” she said. “For example, to create online tutorials for student leaders to access 24 hours a day on our Web site to walk them through things like event planning, travel, purchases, etc. None of those plans cost money as the resources–software and support–are already available through PSU.”
The bottom line and moving forwardSALP’s budget will be on reserve until guidelines and recommendations are created by the task force, which will include one member from the following groups: ASPSU executive staff, judicial board, senate, SFC, SALP advisory board; two representatives from student groups.
The task force will be required to meet at least bi-weekly and by Jan. 15, 2009, will report its findings and recommendations to the SFC.