Not only do Brandeis' 11 a cappella groups rely solely on their voices, they also depend on out-of-pocket funds to pay for everything they do. President of Too Cheap for Instruments Rebecca Sniderman '10 explained that she resorts to selling baked goods, raking leaves, shoveling snow and babysitting to raise money. Music director of Rather Be Giraffes Dan Newman '09 opts for the more straightforward route of begging his parents for donations.In order to spend less time scrimping for funds, Newman has been working with Senators Alex Melman '11, Eric Alterman '09 and Andrew Brooks '09 to determine how a cappella groups could meet the Student Union's standard for chartering.

A chartered organization may approach the Finance Board for funding requests. By demonstrating wide interest, non-exclusivity and showing that no other club has the same purpose (referred to as duality of purpose), a group can petition the Senate for charter status. A cappella at Brandeis has traditionally been seen as an exclusive activity because it holds auditions; however, that notion has been challenged in the past year by A Cappella Etc., an umbrella organization for a cappella that was founded last year. With this philosophy redefining a cappella at Brandeis, A Cappella Etc. has taken steps to change conventions.

Currently, the prevailing idea is to charter A Cappella Etc. By chartering it as a single entity, the Senate would not have to take into consideration the duality of purpose bylaw. This bylaw could become a factor if a cappella groups were to individually go before the Senate to be chartered. Melman explained in an e-mail that "Groups such as Starving Artists and Rather Be Giraffes, which are both coed a cappella groups with no specific genre of song, might fall under duality of purpose."

The proposal to charter A Cappella Etc. is expected to go before the Senate before the end of this academic year. A similar proposal to charter A Cappella Etc. was brought before the Senate last spring, but did not pass because it gave A Cappella Etc. too much financial power. "It functioned as a middleman, which would act as a proxy for a cappella groups to seek funds and then apportion them directly to each group. This was probably unconstitutional, and the Senate voted not to charter A Cappella Etc. at that time," wrote Melman in an e-mail.

Alterman said that he talked with Newman and the other senators about revising the constitution of A Cappella Etc. so that it wouldn't have a role in distributing money. "We talked about A Cappella Etc. getting money from the F-board to plan events, but it wouldn't give money to those groups; it would just invite those groups to participate," Alterman said. Another conflict standing in the way of chartering a cappella groups is that the groups are considered exclusive since they hold auditions. The Student Union doesn't charter clubs it considers exclusive because it does not want funding only going to select Brandeis students. Melman explained in an e-mail that to be granted charter status, a cappella groups would need to prove that there are "some ways for non-performing members to get involved and actively demonstrate a commitment to that."

Newman described a host of ways in which a cappella groups can demonstrate their nonexclusivity. "[A cappella groups] get help in a lot of ways-lighting, costumes, ushering, sound design or even as a liaison to recording studios." He explained that the nonexclusive ways to become involved are no different and also more extensive than other performing groups, many of which receive funding. Newman considers the only difference between a cappella and theater production to be that opportunities are "just not as advertised as theater production."

Newman also said that the funding of a cappella groups would benefit anyone who attends the show and enjoys their performance, so their ends are nonexclusive. "There are exclusive groups with exclusive ends. But there are also exclusive groups with nonexclusive ends. A capella groups have nonexclusive ends," said Newman.

Alterman is hopeful that the proposal to charter A Cappella Etc. will pass. "What I proposed and what we came to an agreement on seems like it could happen. In the end it depends on how many people vote for it."

Sniderman expressed the relief she would feel if this passes. "It would be so nice to do an event and not always have to be thinking about how we will get the money to have this event.