Recent Finance Board allocations highlight a growing challenge in funding student activities on campus. Each student is required to contribute a $364 fee in order to provide resources for F-Board to distribute. However, in recent semesters, F-Board has been unable to satisfy the basic needs of clubs asking for money.

A major reason for this is readily apparent: The Student Union is tasked with chartering clubs, thus granting them the privilege of appearing before F-Board to request money. The number of clubs chartered by the Union has been growing every semester. Of the 144 clubs that appeared before F-Board, only 140 clubs were allocated funds. As of the most recent allocations, there are numerous clubs that can no longer afford basic activities.

Unfortunately, due to the funding issues, clubs are now forced to either cancel events or ask their members to absorb the cost of those events, neither of which is a sufficient solution to this problem.

There is little awareness on the Union's part of the important and delicate balance between available funds and the number of clubs chartered. Additionally, there seems to be some misunderstandings about F-Board's stated policies regarding clubs who can receive funds.

In an interview with the Justice, F-Board member Jacob Agi '12 said, "The biggest difficulty is that the Student Union will charter clubs which they feel are nice clubs to have … those clubs have fundraising as a very large aspect of the club's existence … But it is the F-Board policy that the financing scope does not allow for fundraising. So, we cannot offer any funds for fundraising activities."

It's clear that steps must be taken to relieve the tension between the amount of chartered clubs and available funds. A possible solution may be to require clubs to present to the Union, upon requesting to be chartered, a plan for how they will spend money. This way, the Union will be better able to assess if a club needs the funds they are requesting. Ultimately, it may be necessary to instead recognize only certain clubs who wish to be chartered.

We are pleased that Student Union President Herbie Rosen '12 seems to be aware of the current funding concerns. In his platform last semester, Rosen proposed that clubs with similar goals and events combine their efforts and their funds. For example, community service clubs, he wrote, "can combine to ensure that our individual events go well and are successful." By encouraging such a policy, F-Board could save the funds it has and not allocate money for activities that may be redundant. While this solution seems to be sound, it was largely ignored this fall. Perhaps a more concerted effort should be made in this respect.

Students contribute to the Student Activities Fund every semester, expecting that this will adequately provide for the activities that make up our college experience. It's imperative that we satisfy clubs' financial needs as well as students' expectations.