SOUTHEAST ACTIVITY FEE GENERATES $360,000

The $25 activity fee Southeast Missouri State University students now pay each semester helps fund everything from athletics to Student Government.

The activity fee was levied for the first time in the fall semester. Prior to that, student activities were funded out of the university's general operations budget. For the 1991-92 year, the fee has generated about $360,000, university officials said.

Of the fee each student pays, $9 is earmarked for athletics and $16 for student organizations and Student Government.

This year, $130,000 went to athletics, and $225,000 was allocated for student organizations.

A total of $220,000 was actually budgeted for student organizations and activities, said Bob Beodeker, director of the University Center and Student Government adviser.

Nearly $150,000 was budgeted for specific student organizations, with more than half of that $85,550 going to fund the Student Activities Council (SAC), budget figures show.

SAC funds an annual lecture series and sponsors a wide variety of entertainment on campus, including concerts, a comedy club and films.

Beodeker said $40,000 was allocated to pay for a full-time secretary, a part-time clerical accountant, a graduate assistant and student labor for the Student Government office.

Beodeker said the money is allocated to student organizations on the basis of a budget drafted by an eight-member funding board, comprised of students and approved by Student Senate.

"A lot of this is set around trying to be as fair and equitable as possible," said Beodeker. "The senate can't change things other than send it back to the funding board.

"It is an extremely complicated process," he noted.

"Clubs have to submit detailed budgets each year, listing specifically what they want to spend money on," said Beodeker.

The funding board holds budget hearings every spring and fall.

"Every organization comes in for a hearing," he said. "The funding board spends an enormous amount of time on this."

Students on the funding board take their job seriously, said Beodeker. "The students are extremely responsible in this and this is not something they take lightly."

Beodeker said funding is allocated to student organizations for specific activities. "It is funded for specific line items."

The budget is set up on the basis of projections on how much revenue will be brought in by the activity fee. If revenue exceeds projections, it's credited to the activity fee account. If there's a deficit, then allocations are trimmed.

About $45,000 to $50,000 this year was budgeted for student organizations other than SAC, Beodeker said.

Funding for campus organizations this year ranged from a low of $150 for University Players and the Fencing Club to a high of $85,550 for SAC.

Student Government received about $17,000 or $18,000. A small part of that involved wages for the Student Government president, vice president and treasurer. The officers were paid for the first time at the start of the spring semester in January.

The Association for Black Collegians received $12,506, the third highest amount of funding for a single organization. That money was used to fund a number of cultural events, including two major speakers and a "Black History Month" play.

The Gay and Lesbian Student Association ranked fourth in terms of funding, receiving $4,218 this academic year for "awareness" programs and speakers, and operation of its PRIDE telephone line, Beodeker said. The university's debate team ranked fifth in funding, receiving nearly $2,700.

In all, 44 organizations, including SAC and Student Government, received funding this academic year, budget figures show.

For the 1992-93 year, Beodeker said, money will be budgeted to broad categories by percentages, and then allocated for specific items. Sixty-five percent is earmarked for student organizations, 25 percent is earmarked for Student Government, and 10 percent for special projects. The 25 percent for Student Government includes office staff expenses.

Beodeker said activity-fee funding for SAC will total about $89,000 for the next academic year.

SAC's total annual budget is about $110,000, when revenue from ticket sales for various events is included, said Beodeker.

Students must pay admission charges at some events, but they pay less than the university faculty and staff, and the general public.

That's only fair, said Beodeker, because students already help to fund such events through the student activity fee.

SAC President Dennis Robke said that without such admission charges, the organization would not be able to sponsor as many events as it does.

Beodeker said, "SAC's budget is usually a 40- or 50-page document. That's how thick the budget gets sometimes."

Both Beodeker and Robke said it requires ample funding to bring in nationally known speakers and to sponsor concerts and other events.

Robke said SAC sponsors 35 to 40 events a year, and shows about 40 films.

Most of the comedy acts that are presented at the University Center Club also are funded through SAC.

A large share of the money goes for SAC's lecture series. For example, last fall's "First Amendment" debate between former U.S. attorney general Edwin Meese and Village Voice writer Nat Hentoff cost about $14,000, Beodeker said.

"When you get into people like Ed Meese and Nat Hentoff, you are talking about some major money. Those are nationally known political figures," pointed out Beodeker.

SAC's budget for next year includes $15,000 to $17,000 for a rock concert that the organization is attempting to set up. "We are thinking about something like the Smithereens," said Robke.

Beodeker said that it's common for universities to levy student activity fees to help fund campus activities rather than relying on financing from the institutions' general operations budgets.

"I think the reality of the situation is that very few institutions across the nation are funding these activities out of the regular (general operating) funds," he said.

With the current funding woes in state government, Beodeker said, student organizations and activities would be receiving less funding if they were still being financed out of Southeast's general operating budget rather than with an activity fee.

"We are in a situation where the university does not have a lot of discretionary funding to put toward these programs," he said.

In fact, he said, available funding for student activities has increased by about $70,000 since the activity fee was instituted in 1991.

Beodeker conceded that some students complain about having to pay an activity fee.

But he maintained that students benefit from campus events and cultural activities. "People have to realize that it does add a value to their education. It adds to the overall campus environment.

"Without some of these things, there would be little or nothing (in the way of campus events). We could shut down at 5 o'clock and go home."