Student Activities Council cancels groups’ debt

On Wednesday night, the Student Activities Council reset the debt clock for all SAC-funded student groups and lifted the moratorium preventing new groups from receiving funding.

SAC, which supports around 200 student groups on campus, also introduced a new debt plan “to enforce a new, more responsible way of spending,” SAC Vice Chairman and Wharton senior David Nadle said.

This academic year, the Undergraduate Assembly appropriated $902,652 to SAC, a 2.1-percent increase from last year.

Last semester, SAC’s reserve fund — which it uses for emergency situations, such as when groups overspend — dropped to $103,837, the lowest it had been since 2006.

SAC temporarily froze funding for new groups so that it could reevaluate its financial situation. College senior and SAC Chairman Vinay Rao said in January that these financial problems stemmed from a need to increase funding for student publications and the Sport Club Council.

Since then, SAC has used a combination of preemptive budgeting and lower reserve spending to bring the fund up, said SAC Executive Board member and College senior Sam Bieler, who is also the director of Housing, Sustainability and Facilities for the Undergraduate Assembly.

In previous years, rather than penalizing groups for overspending, SAC helped groups repay their debt by writing up repayment contracts.

The new debt policy involves a system of graduated payback, where groups that overspend will suffer budget cuts on a semesterly basis.

The policy and guidelines will ensure a “more responsible way of spending the reserve budget,” Nadle said, adding that the previous system was “ineffective.”

“SAC has to use the money we’ve been given by the UA to solve the debt problem, which is one of the reasons why we typically have to overspend,” Rao said.

Looking forward, UA Treasurer and College junior Jake Shuster believes that many of SAC’s original concerns will be addressed now that it has “proper infrastructure” in place.

“It’s been fairly vetted,” added UA President Tyler Ernst, a Wharton and Engineering senior.

“I think [the new policy] is good because it’ll help keep everyone in check and not go over budget,” said Wharton sophomore Kenji Tulman, treasurer of the Penn Hawaii Club, a SAC-funded group.

SAC has also modified its procedure to mandate funding for new groups and introduced a new website.

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