A new funding model for UW-Milwaukee sports clubs is in place, lead by a newly-formed Sports and Clubs Allocations Committee (SCAC).
This committee allows sports clubs greater flexibility with their funding, and recognizes that these clubs are different from other, non-sport student organizations.
SCAC is run through SA and receives its money from the student segregated fees that SA allocates. Under the new model, RSCO will go through SCAC in order to receive grant funds.
SCAC will receive $10 from 42,845 students to distribute between the 19 sports clubs. In accordance with SCAC bylaws this funding will be used for operations and travel grants for RSCO.
Club Tennis President and SA Senator Gard Pecor said that grants will be allocated biannually and RSCO will apply for grants at the same time they did with the Senate Allocations Committee (SAC).
SCAC will be composed of the SA treasurer, four members of the SA senate, four members from RSCO and a non-voting SA secretary. This committee will be up and running for next school year and will have its first meeting on June 1, 2013. The SCAC bylaws state that the SCAC board will meet before school starts and elect officials and be prepared for the upcoming school year.
Lately the question RSCO is asking is why they are not going through the Department of Recreational Sports and Facilities (RSF) to get funding. In an email sent out to all of the RSCO presidents’ senor Cody Winkler said that other UW schools have their sport clubs run through their RSF departments. “Why is UWM not the same??? There is a UW in front of the M for a reason, isn’t there?” Winkler asks.
Pecor was able to shed some light on this issue.
“They [SA] are the governing body of students and they didn’t want to see student dollars go to someone [RSF] they can’t have oversight over. They still wanted some control over what happens with those dollars,” he said.
The SCAC bylaws also state “The … RSF shall work with RSCOs regarding all SCAC funds and RCSO segregated fee expenditures.”
Overall this move will change how RSCO are funded. SA is recognizing that RSCO are different from other student organizations with different financial needs. RSCO will be able to apply for multiple operation and travel grants. This will allow RSCO to practice and play more within their given sport.
When the debate to create SCAC first started Melissa Moutry, sport club coordinator, called a meeting with the RSCO and told them that if they wanted change to their funding model that they needed to talk to SA. In order to create SCAC, RSCO continued to talk to and meet with SA senators.
The students in RSCO wanted to make it known that they cannot and will not stand for their underfunding anymore. They wanted people to know about their problems, so they went to a SA meeting on Feb. 24. Students and alumni from RSCOs filled chairs and lined the walls of the fireside lounge.
RSCO representatives made their case to the SA board. SA President Tereza Pelicaric said that the SA’s job is to enrich the student experience, and that she wanted to help the RSCOs reach their full potential. With this being said SA and RSCO representatives had many conferences to discuss the creation of SCAC.
After numerous lengthy meetings SA and RSCO finally agreed on the bylaws and finances for SCAC. When it comes time to apply for spring grants RSCOs are encouraged to consult with the SCAC chair while preparing their funding requests. According to Pecar SCAC will be up and running this coming fall.