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It seems as though your president has spoken, and I see little benefit in replying to everyone’s barrage of posts and accusations. I have exerted all of the time and effort I am going to clarifying the SGA’s perspective in regards to this matter. They needed more information than what was provided at the time of the request and when that information was not provided, the request was denied. Had all of this additional information that you members are spilling out into these forums been provided earlier and to the right individuals, then the Gaming Club might have had its $200 right now. These problems can be avoided next time by working through the appropriate individuals I named in my first posting. In SGA’s defense, the body is comprised of all-new members so no one knew about SGA support of past WCU Gaming Club events. Again, had this knowledge been communicated, the outcome may have been different. It seems, however, that Mr. Baker has already made up his mind. For the future president of the WCU Gaming Club, all I will say is SGA will be there as a resource if your organization so chooses to use it.
***Someone let me know when the next LAN event will take place–I haven’t been to one in awhile.
I appreciate everybody’s concerns. In response to the allegations made by Kappamerc, let me indulge you with an interesting little tidbit of information: The first time this $600 per event figure arose was with your president’s forum post. Had your organization presented these 400 other dollars and provided the funding sources for this other amount, the Finance Committee might have processed your request a bit differently. Also, as stated before, by communicating with the proper individuals, the representatives of your organization might have been able to provide this information.
At the beginning of this semester, the SGA Finance Committee hosted three training sessions at different dates and times on how to properly submit supplemental funding requests on that “crappy website,” Catamount Connections. These meetings were advertised through Catamount Connections and MyCat. If your organization was unable to attend, there were several people you could have approached who would have happily assisted you in submitting the requests complete with all of the relevant information. There were several e-mailed communications between Shane Baker and the Finance Committee for the first request. However, the review process for these was postponed because the University Center had never billed the Gaming Club. Thus, it was the joint decision of the Finance Committee and Mr. Baker to postpone the request, wait and see if the club would be charged for the second one, and proceed accordingly. Upon receiving the UC Invoice, Mr. Baker once again submitted the supplemental funding request for $200. However, no e-mailed communication transpired the second time because the Finance Committee was informed by Ms. Shawna Hipps that Shane would be appearing before the Finance Committee at Monday’s meeting. When Mr. Baker or another representative of the Gaming Club failed to appear before the committee and answer its questions, the Finance Committee proceeded in its decision-making based on information provided from the initial emails. In these, Shane detailed that the organization does not have a membership fee but instead charges a player fee for participation in its events which is used to “help pay for the prizes and various other activities of the club (mainly website-related).” There was no indication that the Gaming Club would be contributing to the cost of the Grand Room rental, which was the stated reason for the initial request. I apologize for any confusion, but prizes are an optional expenditure–not one vital to the success of the event and not one for which SGA funds may be used (as stated in the Finance bylaws). Again, to clarify and to settle any remaining confusion, the reason the request for the Grand Room rental was denied is because the Gaming Club was allocating its monies towards luxury purchases before attempting to cover its own costs. If this is incongruent with the truth, then Gaming Club representatives should have been present at the Finance meeting on Monday night, which was an emergency meeting called for the sole purpose of having Mr. Baker attend–as was informed he would be by Shawna Hipps–in order to clarify any remaining points of confusion.
In response to the question, “If the SGA has funded ‘thousands of dollars to our organization in the past then, why is $200 suddenly a problem?” I would like to begin by asking what isn’t the problem? I apologize that the Finance Committee suddenly asks for an organization to be a bit more financially independent. In my experience with the SGA, most organizations that have received SGA funding have been able to take those funds and use them to establish a base from which they are able to grow those funds and increase their income. But when an organization submits a request for $200 and the full details are “This is for the upcoming LAN event on Dec. 8th,” many questions arise: What exactly are the monies being used for? What other sources are they receiving funds from? What has the group already done to attempt to alleviate the costs? Every other organization that has received funding this semester has demonstrated significant fundraising campaigns; the first and only mention of a fundraiser by the Gaming Club has been that which resulted in a $90 loss by the president. Where have the thousands of dollars the SGA has granted you in the past gone to? From my perspective, you have an organization full of committed and deeply involved members that encourages a sense of community through gaming but, at the same time, it is an organization that, year after year, requests funds and, in the past, has unquestionably received these funds. Your club has grown content–something which should never happen. I implore the Gaming Club to unite in light of this situation and ensure the quality and finances of its operations. Again, I offer my sincerest condolences for you and your fellow members’ frustrations; however, I doubt they compare to the frustrations of the Finance Committee members when their unscheduled meeting was called on the first day of exams under the understanding a representative of the WCU Gaming Club would be present in order to answer their inquiries (which would have resolved this whole situation), and no one showed up.
You are not being treated like a “red-headed stepchild,” Kappamerc, and I certainly don’t think SGA members–who are also intelligent, come from different backgrounds, committed to their academics, concerned with student issues, and greatly involved–appreciate being treated as such either. No matter what, I would recommend you treat your SGA representatives as fellow students, many of which are devote massive quantities of their valuable time to participate in SGA, with the utmost courtesy and respect. Oftentimes the process is frustrating, and I wholeheartedly agree that the current executive administration consists of, for lack of a better term, a bunch of slackasses. But apart from the president and his executive staff, the Senate is doing good things: Were any members of your organization displeased with your academic advising experience? The Senate recently passed a resolution calling for reform and review of advising and advisors. The Senate is looking to install protected shelters for major CatTran stops. Also, considerations for the addition of an A+ to the grading scale are in the works. It upsets me that the occasional hiccup between the SGA and student organizations with good intentions sours the reputation of the SGA. Hopefully the Gaming Club and the SGA can proceed past this upsetting situation and work with continued positive relations in the future.
***Since I began writing this post, several others have provided accolades for my previous response. I cannot thank you enough for keeping an open mind and considering all sides of this issue before drawing conclusions. If you have any other questions, please ask. As for now, I have a huge exam tomorrow morning and I have procrastinated studying enough already. I will check in tomorrow afternoon and offer any additional insight that I can, or direct you to the proper individuals who can answer your questions. I wish everybody the best of luck on their own exams and a nice, relaxing Christmas break.
***Mr. Griffith, I have just now seen your response but I honestly cannot spend any more time on this tonight. Look back later tomorrow for further answers. I am trying to help you guys but I ask that you please be patient because I have a whole lot going on besides this matter. Thank you for your understanding.
As another person closely associated with this matter, I would like to clarify a couple of issues regarding your club’s request. Mr. Baker–I understand your frustrations in this situation. Next time I invite you to deal directly with Steve Held, SGA Finance Director, Michael Frixen, Finance Committee Chair, or Bart Andrus, SGA Adviser, for it is these three individuals whom ultimately review and process your request; Casey is a wonderful aide but she is not the final authority when it comes to allocation of the SGA’s limited funds (Make sure you express your deep gratitude for her since she paid for the event herself out of her own pockets). If you work through the appropriate individuals, then all necessary information can be obtained. The reasons for the denied requests were because, through earlier e-mail communications to the Finance Committee, you provided details that a player’s entry fee provided funds for prizes with a little left over for website maintenance–there was never any indication that the WCU gaming club would be contributing anything to cover the expenses of the event other than prizes. If this is not accurate, the point could have been clarified through proper communication with the aforementioned individuals and on Catamount Connections. I understand you had intended on attending the Finance Committee meeting last night yet you failed to make an appearance. Only through later communication was it established that you had briefly come to the meeting, but the reason was for another inquiry as a part of your work with Casey and not with the Finance Committee. In the future, I recommend working with the proper authorities in regards to SGA supplemental funding. The other option is to seek SGA sponsorship of your next LAN event, in which case I direct you to Aaron Bloemsma, the current SGA president. In one final note, the fundraising effort you described in which you incurred the loss of $90 should have reimbursed you with that amount. And if you rejected reimbursement, then that was a donation on your behalf.
As for the other members of the WCU gaming club, your hasty and biased accusations also deserve a bit of fair-minded reconsideration. First of all, I am baffled by your disdain of Greek fraternity and sorority organizations. I can say for a fact that SGA does not hold them in any higher regard than other student organizations. Furthermore, they are competent and successful when it comes to raising funds and financing their own events–they rarely approach SGA for money because, well, they are responsible and capable of managing their own finances. Also, in response to MasterP’s charge that they do “next to nothing,” the Greek-affiliated students at WCU are some of the most committed and involved students at WCU, supporting philanthropies, charities, service projects, and other university activities such as Relay For Life, Up ‘Til Dawn, Valley Ballyhoo, Catamount athletics–the list goes on and on. On top of this, their members and alumni are among the greatest financial contributors, not only to their own organizations but to many other clubs and university services as well. I hope you don’t mind me asking, MasterP (and Mr. Panetta, the Northeastern student making utterly incorrect and unfounded claims against WCU’s SGA), but what have you as members of the Gaming Club done to promote your organization’s financial sustainability?
Oh Malley’s post is a step in the right direction, but it still does not hit the heart of the matter. The WCU gaming club should make greater provisions to provide for its own finances and expenditures. The complaints are numerous regarding how SGA has supported the WCU gaming club in the past, but the lesson to be learned from this is that the club should endeavor to become more financially and operationally responsible. Unless Mr. Baker decides to seek sponsorship of these LAN activities, and unless the club begins to demonstrate greater financial independence, then I would suspect less and less FINANCIAL support from SGA, and I emphasize “financial” for a reason–the SGA’s first and foremost purpose is to, in every circumstance, support student organizations and to ensure student rights. However, because of your past experiences in hosting LAN events and because of the impressive state of your current website, I envision your organization being able to fund and finance its own activities. Am I implying that SGA will never again provide supplemental funding to the WCU Gaming Club? Absolutely not, and I hope that this is not the impression your organization receives. Each future supplemental funding request will be considered in a fair and balanced fashion. The likelihood of their approval will be greater, though, if your organization is able to demonstrate how it is contributing to its own financial independence. Again, seek assistance from the above-mentioned individuals as to how to appropriately submit any future supplemental funding requests.
So, you may continue to express your discontent with SGA in these forums and continue raving about false stereotypes regarding other model campus organizations, but I doubt it will take you far. Whether your organization chooses to the work with the SGA or not, the SGA has nevertheless proven to be an invaluable resource to many clubs and organizations (Including yours, in case you’ve forgotten the thousands of dollars SGA has directed towards the Gaming Club in the past). In the end, despite all of the cynical and derisive accusations posted by your members, remember that the current state of the WCU Gaming Club is largely responsible because of past contributions from the SGA. I encourage continued cooperation between your organization and the WCU-SGA. I also encourage your organization to take progressive steps towards procuring additional funding, either from its own members, by seeking further funds from outside entities, or via other means. In doing so, your organization will be able to operate with much greater flexibility and with full backing support of the SGA.
In other regards, yes–your organization is a magnificent one, comprising one of the most active and flourishing student clubs at Western Carolina University, and I hope you understand that SGA backs your organization 100%. Nevertheless, the SGA cannot–will not–continue to extend monies to those organizations that demonstrate no contribution on their behalf to move towards greater financial security and independence. In conclusion, I charge the WCU gaming club to view this situation not in a negative light, but to view it instead as a call towards greater financial stability and independence as a organization. Take steps to fund-raise and host even more events. Perhaps one day you’ll even be able to grant travel packages to members such as rainefardreamer so that distant gamers can come play. Who knows–maybe even an E3-like event is in store for Western.
You may thoughtfully consider what I have said or simply erase the post from the message board. However, as a gamer myself and as someone integrally involved with the SGA, I encourage you to pursue the former of these two options. It will lead to a better lasting relationship with not only between the SGA and the WCU Gaming Club, but between the Gaming Club and the university as a whole. Please review what I have recommended–movement towards greater financial independence–with an open mind. The SGA will be there to support you but it encourages heightened internal efficiency in your organization as well. Before ending, I ask that Shane posts the apology letter that followed his initial condemnation of his experience.
Sincerely–
