Student Union officials said they have found irregularities with funding and staffing at the Archon, Brandeis' yearbook, in their attempt to reform the distribution of the Student Activities Fee (SAF).Harrison Chizik '07, the Finance Board chair who looked into the Archon's functions and printing costs, said the Archon did not have budgets on file for the previous two academic years. He found irregularities in the budgets for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years.

"We had to do a round-about search for information, because it's not where it should be," Chizik said.

Rebecca Gedalius '07, editor in chief of the 2006 Archon, who is also a copyeditor for the Justice, said she fully complied with all requests into the group's finances and even allowed Chizik to look in the Archon's office drawers.

"I can assure there hasn't been any misspending of money or major equipment purchased since I came here in fall of 2003," she said.

"[Chizik] asked me how much [the Archon] ideally needs," Gedalius recalled. "I said, 'It's hard for me to say, I don't know how much a yearbook costs.' Union Officials don't know either."

Chizik began investigating Archon finances in an effort to collect data about organizational usage of SAF funds. Union President Jenny Feinberg '07 and her administration used the data to draft an amendment to the Union Constitution that would increase the amount of money controlled by the Finance Board to 50 percent of the total SAF, up from about 37 percent.

Union officials said they planned to present the amendment, which requires approval by two-thirds of student voters, before the February break, but were delayed due to student and administration concerns about certain components, including the uncertainties surrounding the Archon.

The fee each student pays is equal to about one percent of tuition and yields a total fund of about $1 million. The Union Constitution currently allocates about 60 percent of the fund to eight secured organizations, including the Justice, while the Finance Board distributes the remaining 40 percent to over 200 chartered clubs.

In order for chartered groups to receive more funds, the secured organizations will see budget cuts, according to a memo outlining the proposed amendment. Union officials have said they believe secured groups receive more money than necessary to serve their purposes.

Chizik said it is impossible to know how much the Archon needs to function because he doesn't have data revealing how its money has been spent. Also, a liaison from Joston's, the company that is contracted to print Brandeis' yearbooks through 2007 is at a conference and cannot be reached, Chizik said.

Daniel Lowenstein '06, editor in chief of the 2005 Archon, said the yearbook staff had submitted budgets to then-Union Treasurer Andrei Khots '05.

"It was not brought to my attention until recently," Lowenstein said about the missing budgets.

Chizik did outline a few irregularities in the yearbook's current organization. He said the Archon has been ordering too many books.

"The office is filled with boxes of old yearbooks," said Chizik, who reported seeing an order form for 950 yearbooks for a class of about 800 students.

Additionally, the 2001-2002 budget listed $8,000 spent on equipment, Chizik said.

"There isn't $8,000 of equipment in that office," he said.

While Chizik said it is possible that the $8,000 was ultimately spent on other expenses, he found it troublesome that the itemization was not questioned on the budget.

Lowenstein and Gedalius both said they did not know the details of that year's budget because they were not yet students at Brandeis.

"We found [Gedalius] has been giving her all to the yearbook, but in the past, editors haven't been keeping records like they were supposed to," Chizik said. "Or, if they were, they are not in the office."

Chizik theorized Union treasurers weren't diligent in collecting budgets for the past two years, because the Union had no real power to question spending of secured groups.

The proposed amendment would require secured groups to submit their budget for the F-Board's approval, according to the memo outlining the proposal.

Unlike other schools the Union researched, Brandeis students don't pay for their yearbook directly, Chizik said. Instead, each year, $25 of every student's SAF is given to the Archon, resulting in a compulsory payment of $100 for a yearbook.

"We're buying an awful lot of yearbooks for people who might not want them," Chizik said.

Lowenstein said he disagreed. "I think it's a great way to do it," Lowenstein said of the compulsory payment system. "Yearbook editors from other schools have been speaking to us about it."

Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett said there should be large-scale polling of the student body to find out if students want SAF to go toward their yearbook. She said she wants each class to decide how it wants to spend on printing a yearbook.

Even in a world with Facebook.com, Bennett said, "You'd be surprised; there is still nostalgia for a yearbook."

At $100, the price of a Brandeis yearbook is higher than at any college researched by the Union, Chizik said. He presented a document prepared by himself and Ziv Quad Senator Adam Gartner '07, which showed that students at Tufts University pay $70 for a yearbook, while Carnegie Mellon University charges $65.

The 2005 yearbook, which was due to be mailed last October, has just been sent to Joston's for printing, Gedalius said.

Chizik said Gedalius is not responsible for the delay of last year's yearbook, but is unfairly receiving angry e-mails from last year's seniors. "I feel for her, in that sense," he said.

Bennett said the Archon has been understaffed, and suffered the loss of a few editors. Gedalius said she was "literally" doing the job of "three different people" at one time.

Lowenstein said several editors quit at different points of the production process last year.

This semester, the yearbook has added eight members to its previous staff of 13, Gedalius said. "They're really enthusiastic, and I'm very excited," she said.

Chizik and Bennett both agreed the Archon is an integral part of Brandeis and said they want to help the organization survive. One idea under discussion is to pay certain students to produce the yearbook or hire staff advisers, as is done at other schools.

Still, Chizik had strong words regarding the financial management of the Archon in the past.

"The SAF went up like 20 percent in the past few years. The cost of editing a yearbook has not gone up 20 percent, so where did the money go?