Student Union officials have begun drafting a series of amendments to the Union constitution to reform the club financing system that distributes the Student Activities Fee (SAF), according to Union President Jenny Feinberg '07. Feinberg said she plans to present the amendments to the student body by the end of the month. The amendments require approval by two-thirds of voters to pass. The amendments will serve as a landmark of the defining issue of Feinberg's presidency-her extensive review into the club funding system-and come in the wake of her and other Union officials meeting with nearly every student group. The issue was also the dominant theme in her State of the Union address in December.

Although Feinberg repeatedly declined to elaborate on specific details of any possible SAF changes, she said drafts are currently in the works, and Union officials are meeting regularly with each other and leaders of campus groups. After finalizing the amendments, the Union will work to collect signatures from 15 percent of the student body, the amount required to bring a referendum campuswide vote.

SAF is paid by each student, and is currently equal to 1 percent of tuition, or approximately $331 this year. The fees currently total almost $1 million, and the money is distributed pursuant to the Union constitution.

Currently, about 62 percent of the total SAF is allocated to eight secured organizations, including the Justice, the Archon, WBRS, BTV, Waltham Group, BEMCo, the Student Union and Student Events. These organizations are guaranteed to receive a set percentage from SAF every year. The remaining 38 percent goes to the Finance Board, a seven-student panel which distributes money to more than 200 chartered groups on a request-by-request basis.

"I think the [system] demands reform, because people's interests are not adequately represented," Feinberg said. "Groups deserve more funding, more involvement and more understanding of the Student Union and how it grants funding requests."

Specifically, Feinberg highlighted the eight secured organizations who receive 62 percent of the total SAF, saying certain groups have too large a budget, though she declined to name specific groups.

Feinberg also said she believes the constitution does not allow the Union Treasurer to adequately question the spending of secured groups. She said it is hard for these organizations to be forced to spend wisely "when they know what they are getting."

Director of Union Affairs Aaron Gaynor '07, who has formerly served as Union Treasurer, echoed a similar sentiment.

"Secured groups are given this blank check and are never really watched," he wrote in an email to the Justice. "Our current system has not really had a comprehensive overhaul in a few decades, and it was time to ask ourselves a lot of philosophical questions about how and why we do the things that we do"

Though Feinberg wouldn't point out organizations she feels receive too much money, she did express concern with the structure of Student Events, a secured organization responsible for providing campuswide programming and entertainment, and the organization that receives the most money of any group (almost 25 percent of the total SAF, or approximately $218,000 this year). Led by one director and seven assisant directors, Student Events provides concerts, a film series, special weekends, as well as cosponsoring events with other groups.

"I'm challenging that eight members should just plan events," she said, expressing dismay that "students had never had opportunity to directly impact Student Events." She said she believes students don't feel connected to campus because decisions are made solely by group leaders under the current system. If more students are involved in event planning, Feinberg said, more students will come out to events.

Director of Student Events Helen Pekker '06 said the group has twenty-five staff members, and decisions are not made solely on the staff level.

"We brainstorm, talk about what we heard from our friends and what others say, and use the suggestion box in order to plan events," she said.

Pekker maintained that "too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup" and defended the structure of the campus' programming board by pointing out that "when a [performer's] agent gets calls from 10 different students, they get confused." She also said Student Events changes its structure every year in order to incorporate as many qualified applicants for positions as possible.

Feinberg said student life will benefit from system changes to the SAF.

"I believe that a big reason we are concerned about social events is because events are not cosponsored or planned by enough people," she said. "People feel more empowered if they have greater agency in the process."

Pekker said Student Events is prepared to operate with a decreased budget, but that funds diverted from the group should go to the Finance-board because students who are denied money from the F-board often look to Student Events for sponsorship.

"We shouldn't be funding groups that can't get F-Board money," she said.

The amendments could also find their way onto the ballot with the approval of 10 Union senators, a task that would prove much easier for Feinberg than collecting signatures from 15 percent of the student body as she plans. But Feinberg said she is taking the harder path because of her desire to fully represent students.

"We should only have a constitutional amendment that students want," she said. "If we can't gain the signatures, it shouldn't be an amendment.