2008 Woodie Awards
Living in the Shadow of Minervas: Theme Houses get by on less
Aria Walfrand
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
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The Concordiensis article last week on Minerva budgeting focused on Minervas and Greeks. But what about Theme Houses? With an annual budget of $10,000 for all 13 houses, how do the 130 students living in them feel about their budget?
Head of Theme House Council (THC), Devin Harrison, expresses the struggle: "It began at a lower balance, but our great Lisa Bovino persuaded those in power to increase the allotment. This same thing happened last year," he says. "All funding for themes is at Stephen Leavitt's generous discretion."
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Stephen Leavitt oversees the budget for Theme Houses. "I have always felt that Theme Houses offer a vital dimension to student housing options at Union," Leavitt says. "Once the Theme House Consortium was formed, I thought that there should be some money for them to oversee and allot to individual houses to pursue worthy programs. This was money from a discretionary budget that I oversee, to help with student programming. It has been an informal process."
But that financial support does not come without stipulations.
"I have always been told that Themes are required to do three events per term, open to the campus community. In practice, 95 percent of all theme events are open to everyone. Taking this into consideration, there is $77 per student for theme house members for the year. But we host events open to the community. This diminishes that number significantly. Compare this to some clubs which get approximately $370 [yearly] per student involved…and do not host events open to larger community," Harrison asserts.
Theme Houses do not share an equal part of the $10,000 budget, and there is a process involved in applying to receive a part of the money.
Jeremy Potash, '09, head of Civil Service House, explains the process. "Each house is not given a specific amount. The first step in getting funding for a THC event is to create a proposal. This is then submitted at one of our THC meetings. We vote as a body, with each house having one vote, as to whether or not we would like to fund the event. If we decide to approve something, the house is given a purchasing card and goes and buys whatever they want for the approved amount, and then returns the card and the receipt the next day."
Head of Theme House Council (THC), Devin Harrison, expresses the struggle: "It began at a lower balance, but our great Lisa Bovino persuaded those in power to increase the allotment. This same thing happened last year," he says. "All funding for themes is at Stephen Leavitt's generous discretion."
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Stephen Leavitt oversees the budget for Theme Houses. "I have always felt that Theme Houses offer a vital dimension to student housing options at Union," Leavitt says. "Once the Theme House Consortium was formed, I thought that there should be some money for them to oversee and allot to individual houses to pursue worthy programs. This was money from a discretionary budget that I oversee, to help with student programming. It has been an informal process."
But that financial support does not come without stipulations.
"I have always been told that Themes are required to do three events per term, open to the campus community. In practice, 95 percent of all theme events are open to everyone. Taking this into consideration, there is $77 per student for theme house members for the year. But we host events open to the community. This diminishes that number significantly. Compare this to some clubs which get approximately $370 [yearly] per student involved…and do not host events open to larger community," Harrison asserts.
Theme Houses do not share an equal part of the $10,000 budget, and there is a process involved in applying to receive a part of the money.
Jeremy Potash, '09, head of Civil Service House, explains the process. "Each house is not given a specific amount. The first step in getting funding for a THC event is to create a proposal. This is then submitted at one of our THC meetings. We vote as a body, with each house having one vote, as to whether or not we would like to fund the event. If we decide to approve something, the house is given a purchasing card and goes and buys whatever they want for the approved amount, and then returns the card and the receipt the next day."
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