Rice Rally recommended for blanket tax, other clubs show financial issues

By Anita Alem     1/20/16 11:46am

The Blanket Tax Committee will recommend to the Student Association Senate that Rice Rally be placed on the ballot so voters may decide whether or not to designate it as a blanket tax organization that will receive student funds. Rice University Splash, Rice Environmental Society and the Queer Resource Center did not receive BTC recommendations but will present at SA Senate as well. The Rice Standard and Catalyst are still undergoing review, according to SA Treasurer Sai Chilakapati.

Under the new blanket tax process implemented last year, the BTC is responsible for reviewing existing blanket tax organizations annually as well as recommending organizations that request to receive blanket tax status. 

“Fundamentally, our role is to ensure that student blanket tax dollars are being spent appropriately,” Lovett College President and committee member Griffin Thomas said.

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Chilakapati, a Hanszen College junior, said the organizations that applied were evaluated based on several criteria, including: whether the requested funds would contribute to the organization’s mission, and whether that mission benefits the student body and Rice community, whether the organization has a strong financial need, if all other reasonable means of acquiring funding have been exhausted and whether the organization’s financial need is long-term and annual. According to Chilakapati, only Rice Rally met all of these requirements.

Rice Rally President Jeremy Reiskind said he was thankful for all the board members who had worked for the past two years to grow the club, as well as the students who attend athletic events to engage in the club’s activities.

“I was super excited and honored when I was informed about Rally Club being recommended to Senate to become a Blanket Tax Organization,” Reiskind, a Duncan College junior, said. “Working on increasing overall school spirit has been a huge personal goal of mine, and this is a huge step in that process.”

Chilakapati said Rice Rally does not currently receive funding from Rice Athletics and relies primarily on Student Activities/President’s Programming, or SAPP funds.

A strong financial need does not necessarily have to entail a sizeable budget, according to Chilakapati.

“[The requirement of] a strong financial need is [about] whether they can function as they are now with regards to the sources of money they’re using,” Chilakapati said. “Do they have a strong financial need to function on a day to day basis?”

According to Chilakapati, the QRC did not demonstrate a long-term and annual financial need, as well as a complete investigation of other sources of funds, and attributed some of the financial ambiguity to the relative youth of the organization, which was founded last year. 

“QRC obviously does provide a valuable service to the student body, but we need to take in all of these other factors when coming to our decision,” Chilakapati said.

Chilakapati also said he felt the QRC could seek for financial aid from the Wellbeing Office, which the organization has not yet pursued. QRC was created with $10,000  funded by the SA40K in 2015; these funds have not been depleted.

RES is structured such that the organization redistributes funds based on proposals students submit regarding environmental initiatives, which Chilakapati said contributed to why the organization is not being recommended for blanket tax status.

“It’s hard to have oversight over whether the money is being spent in a proper way or not,” Chilakapti said. “[We can’t verify] how they’re deciding how to distribute this money, so we had some concerns over that.”

Thomas, however, had other reasons for voting not to recommend RES. 

“I was not convinced that they had a strong financial need nor that any funding they received would further their organization,” Thomas said.

According to RU Splash Treasurer Catherine Levins, RU Splash is a non-profit organization that focuses on education development in the local Houston community and encouraging low-income students to consider college as an option from a young age. The organization was not recommended.

“I voted against RU Splash because I’m not convinced that they are furthering a unique interest of the student body that isn’t being filled by an organization like [Rice Student Volunteer Program],” Thomas said. “Additionally, it didn’t appear that they had exhausted all of their other funding sources before reaching out to us.”

Levins, a Martel College junior, said the organization was grateful for the consideration and is eager to work on addressing the committee’s feedback to update its proposal.

“We are excited to pursue add additional sources for potential funding that may better suit the needs for our expanding outreach program,” Levins said.

The BTC itself cannot designate blanket tax status upon an organization; it can only make recommendations to the SA Senate, which does not have to follow the recommendations. Members of the BTC also include student representatives Alex Quam and Giray Ozseker, as well as blanket tax organization representatives Makenzie Drukker and Jodie Nghiem.

Chilakapati said the organizations that applied have been instructed to attend the SA meeting as well to present their request. Additionally, the organizations have been given the opportunity to formally respond to their status and provide any further explanation that they deem necessary. The SA Senate will then vote on Jan. 27 on whether to include the organization’s request for blanket tax status on the ballot for the general election in mid-February. The organization must obtain two-thirds votes in favor in the election and the election must have 20 percent quorum for it to obtain blanket tax status.

Recommendations for Standard and Catalyst will be determined and released later this week.

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