Students at Chapman University hope to foster a more transparent, harmonious relationship between student organizations and the Student Government Association (SGA), following a recent upset regarding SGA’s funding policies.

The SGA Senate meeting on Sept. 1

During an SGA Senate meeting on Sept. 1, two club leaders representing several student organizations on campus voiced concerns to the executive board and Senate. These concerns detailed the lack of inclusivity student organization leaders had in deciding on these new policies that directly affected them and their club members.

The policies discussed most included changing the amount of time to submit funding requests from three weeks back to two weeks and reinstating SGA funding for wearable merchandise for organizations. Another policy discussed dealt with adjusting the food cap for student clubs from $350 per semester to $250 per meeting for outside food vendors.

The reversion of funding policies at the SGA Senate meeting

Present at the Sept. 1 meeting were senior biology major Mo Hijazi and senior computer science major Ponthea Zahraii, who advocated for the revote, especially to adjust the food cap amount.

As president of the Iranian Student Cultural Organization, Zahraii noted the importance of food in helping to support the Iranian community at Chapman.

“Having food at our meetings allows (our club) to expose people that come to our meetings who aren’t Iranian to our cultural foods and traditions (and) gives the Iranian people of Chapman a place that allows them to connect to their culture through the food that we serve,” Zahraii said in an interview with The Panther.

According to SGA Allocations Chair Tiffany Le, a junior data science major, the vote to revert the funding requests resulted in eight in favor, one opposed and two abstaining. For wearable merchandise, eight people voted in favor, one opposed and two abstained. The vote for the food cap resulted in eight in favor and three abstaining.

“We spoke to (SGA) about why we need more funding for food and we urged them to include us in the conversations that affect our organizations,” Zahraii said. “Specifically, mentioning the significance food has on member retainment and the purpose of food in cultural organizations.” 

Zahraii continued: “Fowler Senator Zuleyka Urieta and Student Academic Organizations Senator Eric Hall were also both very supportive of us and advocated for our organizations during this meeting. Eric was a huge supporter and was the person who called the motion to revert back to last year’s policies.”

What led up to the SGA meeting?

The dialogue between the two leaders and the Senate inevitably resulted in a reversion of SGA’s funding policies to what they were last school year. However, to several student organization leaders, this revote meant a lot more to them than just advocating for policy reversal.

The significant issue stemming from the revote lies in the lack of communication, transparency and collaboration between SGA and student organizations during the decision-making process. 

“All (Chapman) organizations and clubs want is a voice in that process,” said senior biological sciences major Nathan Mermilliod, who currently serves as the president of Chapman’s Chess Club.

Going forward, student organization leaders hope to prevent similar instances like this from occurring in the future, as detailed in their recent open letter sent to SGA on Sept. 21. 

“I worked with Mo Hijazi to draft an open letter thanking SGA for reversing their decision. I believe this revote was a step in the right direction towards better organization representation in SGA policy,” Mermilliod said. “We were able to get many organizations to support the open letter.”

Currently, 66 student organizations have signed the letter, expressing their gratitude to SGA for authorizing the revote.

The origin of the new policies, stimulating frustration from student organization leaders

According to Eric Hall, a junior economics and philosophy double major, the Senate met in July to discuss the Allocations Operating Procedures, where they also discussed the policy changes for the student organizations and clubs. After this meeting, Hall “gave a heads up” to all of the student organizations and club leaders about the new policies via email.

On Aug. 27, the day before the semester started, club and organization leaders attended the President’s Leadership Summit, where they learned about essential club operations for the upcoming school year and were also made aware of several new policy updates.

It was during the summit that senior biology major Mo Hijazi — along with 138 other student organization leaders — were shocked to learn that SGA underwent a significant revision of its funding procedures for student organizations over the summer.

“Two words spring to mind: perplexed and disheartened,” said Hijazi, who serves as the president of TriBeta Biological Honors Society, along with a few leadership positions in other clubs. “The altercations instigated by SGA caught me off guard, as there was no prior consultation with any student organizations or their leaders.” 

According to Hijazi, when leaders were asked at the summit if they had been consulted by SGA about the changes, not a single hand was raised. Similarly, when attendees were asked about their satisfaction with these decisions, not one person expressed approval.

“Towards the end of that meeting, Mo spoke up and said, ‘Hey, I’m really unhappy about some of these changes,’ and he invited a bunch of clubs in the Senate to voice their concerns,” Hall told The Panther. “At the time, I didn’t think that would be particularly effective, to be totally transparent, since (we wouldn’t) elect the fall senators until Sept. 22. I thought we were gonna wait until then before the clubs were gonna voice their concerns once everyone was represented.”

Hall continued: “But, they came in that Friday, and the rest of the Senate listened to them, and we agreed to avert those three changes back to how they were last year, at least for the next three weeks. So, until the new fall senators (were) elected, those changes weren’t gonna get voted on.”

Why the changes were made to the policies

The origin of these funding issues between SGA and student organization leaders was first brought up in a previous open letter that was sent out by a few Fowler School of Engineering clubs last spring semester. The previous letter asked for more transparency from SGA, especially in regard to sufficient and timely funding for club events.

“I wasn’t involved in creating the open letter to SGA last semester that called for changes to financial policies,” Hijazi said. “However, I did receive and read the letter since I was a senator in the SGA at the time and I was genuinely pleased to see students expressing their concerns because I had my own disagreements with many of the allocation decisions made during that period.”

Hijazi continued: “During the time when the (first) open letter was sent, I started appealing some of the allocation committee’s decisions. This triggered a sequence of changes in the allocation procedures, empowering the student body and facilitating fairer appeal processes and greater transparency.”

Information on the proposed changes from SGA’s perspective

In an email to The Panther, SGA President Rachel Berns, a senior health sciences major, stated that SGA proposed the changes based on recommendations from the outgoing 2022-2023 student finance team, along with conversations with the 2022-2023 Senate and initial conversations with the 2023-2024 Senate. Berns clarified to The Panther that she is not a voting member of SGA and that results from the vote “don’t necessarily precisely represent any individual SGA member’s specific positions on the matter.”

“I hope it can be emphasized that the intention of these policies were never to place restrictions for the sake of being restrictive; they were each intended to address a specific concern or resolve a commonly faced issue,” Berns wrote.

She also clarified that some of the concerns were discussed in the previous open letter, while others had been communicated via another method or observed by SGA over time.

According to Berns, the requirement for funding requests to be submitted three weeks in advance was intended to make sure that student organizations would hear back about the funding decisions and arrangements in time before their events. This requirement was made after student organizations last year had voiced concerns that they didn’t receive any updates from funding in time to prepare for the expenditures, something that was also expressed in last semester’s open letter.

Berns added: “The food cap was intended to help put more power in the organizations in terms of determining how to distribute funds for food throughout the semester, as opposed to expecting an approval for each subsequent event and not always getting that result, depending on the circumstances.”

Regarding the merchandise policy, Berns told The Panther that it was intended to give clubs and organizations a “direct avenue to fundraise” and enable them to grow their own financial accounts to “improve sustainability of club functions without requiring SGA investment.”

“Much of the overhaul of the Allocations Operating Procedures was prompted by countless conversations with SGA and with campus partners about what the most appropriate uses of student activity fee funds are and more undergraduate experience enriching efforts by clubs, encouraging them to continue to be visionary with the heights their organizations can reach with that expanded support,” Berns said.

SGA’s plans for student collaboration, involvement going forward

Senior Aria Haroonian, a business administration major in finance, currently serves as the director of finance. While Haroonian is not part of the senatorial process, he explained how SGA plans to help resolve club and organization concerns moving forward.

“There (have been) discussions since I’ve been here of (having) senators be in touch with each of their constituencies, how they feel about different changes and making sure that everyone’s on the same page before anything is voted on in the Senate,” Haroonian said.

Berns echoed this sentiment: “All of our Senators have been asked and encouraged to connect with their constituencies in this time to chat about not (only) these particular policies, but (also) more productively, to discuss the needs, priorities and visions for student organizations this year and how our budget and policies can help reflect that,” Berns said.

Le, the upperclassmen senator, told The Panther that senators also have their own designated office hours in Argyros Forum 303 every week during the academic year, excluding breaks and finals week, to discuss potential initiatives with their constituencies.

“Office hours are an amazing opportunity for a student or organization to meet with their senator(s) in person,” Le said.

Berns and Le also added that the weekly agendas are being posted on SGA’s social media so students know what will be discussed at the Friday meetings from 1 to 3 p.m. in the boardroom, located in Argyros Forum. They also encourage students to attend and bring forth discussion during the public forum portion.

“Our job will always be to listen and respond productively to concerns across campus, just as was done in this situation, and we encourage students to work with us in that process so we can most effectively help each other,” Berns said. “...I would like to encourage students to continue engaging with us –– attending meetings, sending emails, stopping by while we table, etc.” 

She continued: “Having an open-minded, candid conversation is one of the best ways we can start to find appropriate solutions. I hope student organizations will continue to come to SGA with funding needs, but to also rely on us within some of our other roles, such as our role in campus-wide advocacy.”