Partial lift of SAC moratorium on new groups approved

The moratorium on new clubs has been lifted for all non-performing arts groups.

At the Oct. 23 Student Activities Council general body meeting, an overwhelming majority of the general body voted in favor of partially lifting the moratorium. 

New groups can apply for recognition anytime between now and the week before Thanksgiving.  The groups’ applications will be reviewed by SAC's executive board and interviews will be conducted. The groups will need to submit a group constitution, membership list and history of expenditures, as well as submit a questionnaire.

In order to be recognized, new groups must follow four guidelines: “serve a niche purpose” that differs from other clubs on campus to avoid overlap between club missions, prove sustainability, have a mission that falls into one of SAC’s ten categories and be part of an umbrella organization — such as Civic House Associates Coalition or Performing Arts Council if appropriate, and fall into one of SAC's ten student group categories. 

Metrics of sustainability include having at least a one-year track record of existence, members from different class years and be financial soundness. 

SAC Chair Kanisha Parthasarathy said that these guidelines are a “way of creating a bottleneck so funding for [existing] groups doesn’t go down because we are adding new groups.”

If approved, the groups will be eligible for funding after 3 months and only have access to contingency funding for the remainder of the year. They will apply for the budget for the 2015-2016 year.

The recognition section of the constitution was changed to reflect the new changes. One of the changes was to move away from two types of recognition – comprehensive and restricted – to comprehensive recognition for all SAC groups.

Before the executive board recommended a partial lift of the moratorium, they ensured that SAC was “in the black” for a year. According to Parthasarathy, individual group debts and rising facilities costs were responsible for the moratorium originally.

Elections for the SAC executive board were also held at the meeting.  Four positions were available and nine people ran for the positions. Incumbent SAC executive board members Wharton junior Eli Bernstein and College junior Renata O’Donnell were reelected.  College sophomore Evan Cernea, who is a member of the Daily Pennsylvanian and College sophomore Jeremy Cohen were also elected.

Bernstein wants to make sure the new club treasurers are up to date about SAC policies, citing the information gap that occurs after board turnovers in clubs, while O’Donnell hopes to improve communication and continue to work on the treasurer training modules.

Cohen is the treasurer for iNtuitions and believes that his role in a PAC group will help him solve the PAC facilities issue and “bring representation to the underrepresented.”

Cernea, who is the treasurer for the Bioethics Journal, said he wanted to represent publications on SAC and recommended more engagement with treasurers such as interactive quizzes and boomerang emails. 

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